With Kevin Glancy

The Labor Government has declared war on businesses that use the 457 Visa to import skilled workers when there are Australians available who are capable of doing the same job. Sounds fair enough if it is true and not just a union beat-up. Taken on face value Labor and the unions should therefore start their purge with the Prime Minister herself who has an imported employee here via a 457 Visa.

Julia Gillard’s own chief spin-master John McTernan, came to Australia on a 457 Visa and now works for Julie Gillard. Yet it would be hard to argue that he meets the 457 criteria. Ironically, he also represents yet another failure in Gillard’s border protection policy and may well be residing in this country illegally under the terms of that Visa category given the number of Australians who could do his job.

Initially, John McTernan was granted a 457 Visa on an invitation extended by the South Australian Labor government to produce a report on the efficiency of the public service.

That particular use of the 457 Visa should certainly be questioned as to whether there was an Australian qualified to perform the same task. Under the 457 Visa criteria, for an imported worker to qualify, it must be a position that an Australian cannot meet and I’m quite sure that there would be a number of Australians qualified to perform such a task. I’d go as far as to say there would be a queue of people who would be perfectly qualified to run a check on the efficiency of the public service.

Furthermore it would appear that McTernan has problems with efficiency himself because he didn’t actually perform that task with any speed. The release of that completed report was expected in October 2011.  A year following that date the report had not materialised. One wonders about, not only the value of his employment by the South Australian taxpayer, but worse, despite that lack of efficiency, McTernan was then recruited into the Prime Minister’s office where he continues to work in Australia now protected by Julia Gillard.

As a matter of interest Gillard’s divisive ‘gender war’ media strategy against Tony Abbott is being conducted under his guidance. McTernan’s ability to create lies about someone’s character would hardly be a skill worthy of a 457 Visa. Gillard is surrounded by people equally adept at telling lies.

Former UK Labour performer John McTernan is well known for ‘playing the man’ and his ‘gender war’ political manifesto was highlighted in an article he wrote in the UK’s Telegraph newspaper in October 2011 titled; “Labour’s Reshuffle Gives David Cameron Even More of a Woman Problem”.

Fortunately, there is hope for us all because despite trying to create gender division during the UK election, McTernan’s strategy failed miserably when David Cameron was elected Prime Minister.

It may be that Gillard has imported a loser because under McTernan’s guidance her infamous ‘misogyny’ rant seems to have had little negative effect on Tony Abbott. Basically because it was a pack of lies and a tactic which is the lowest refuge of any woman when faced with criticism. Playing the gender card is not clever and I would suggest that it has not helped women’s progress in Australia one iota and certainly not in the political arena.

According to Labor Immigration Minister Brendan O’Connor, the 457 visas will be tightened to ensure that they are only used to address genuine skill shortages and local workers are getting a ‘fair go’.

Under the crackdown employers will be required to demonstrate that they are nominating the position where there is a genuine shortage of workers. I very much doubt that Gillard could justify McTernan’s 457 Visa on that basis.

Mr O’Connor said compliance and enforcement powers would also be boosted to stop employers rorting the program, which he said had witnessed an increase in applications.

“We have seen too many examples of abuse across the nation,” he told reporters in Melbourne.

There are situations where Australian workers are being discriminated against because of the abuse of the program.” (Source: Daily Telegraph)

Minister! It’s time to have a chat with your PM about her Director of Communications John McTernan. There’s your first 457 problem and it’s just a short walk from your office. I’m sure Julia Gillard could find a qualified media director amongst the ranks of the ABC which is brimming with Labor supporters and who know all about how to spin the media in Gillard’s and Labor’s favour.

Then there’s the many journalists who have lost their jobs in recent times, particularly those from Fairfax, the media organisation that keeps losing money because it can’t find a big enough market for its Left-wing propaganda.   

And here was I thinking that Labor was all for the Aussie worker and wanted to keep the unemployment rate down. Why haven’t we heard from the unions about John McTernan?  Is this yet another example of Labor double standards at work? I’m quite sure that the media would be all over this story had it been Tony Abbott’s doing.

Someone should tell Julia Gillard that her communication guru does not qualify for such a visa and should be deported immediately. As for a replacement, I would recommend Michael Smith who has shown to be a superb media operator in exposing her role in the AWU scandal. As a result, the Victorian Police are currently investigating Ms Gillard and it may be that soon our Prime Minister will need to import a good lawyer rather than a 457 spin doctor like John McTernan.

Besides, current polling would suggest that Gillard should send him packing for her own welfare – McTernan’s strategies are clearly not working and therefore he doesn’t meet the criteria required for a 457 Visa with such a poor skill level.