Senator WATT (Queensland—Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Minister for Emergency Management) (14:59): Senator Ruston, the answer to your question is very simple, and it's a seven-digit number—one million. One million visas—that was the backlog that we inherited from your government in visa applications. One million people, who had applied for visas to work in health care and a range of other industries— The PRESIDENT: Senator Ruston? Senator Ruston: The minister is obviously choosing not to answer my question. Honourable senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Order on my right and left. Senator Ruston, I believe it's a point of order. Senator Ruston: It's a point of order on relevance. This is a very serious issue for regional communities. I'm talking about 887 visas and why your government has chosen not to prioritise them. The PRESIDENT: Senator Ruston, I believe the minister has been answering your question. I'll continue to listen closely. Minister. Senator WATT: I do know Senator Ruston's electorate. In fact, I had the pleasure of joining her to meet with people who had experienced floods in the Renmark region just before Christmas. I'm not surprised that Renmark and that wider region are suffering from extreme workforce shortages in the health area. The PRESIDENT: Minister Watt, please resume your seat. Senator Ruston? Senator Ruston: Your gratuitous response is not very becoming. The PRESIDENT: Senator Ruston, what is it? Senator Ruston: But on relevance— The PRESIDENT: Senator Ruston, what is it? Senator Ruston: I asked you specifically about 887 visas— The PRESIDENT: Senator Ruston! Senator Ruston: Do you know what an 887 visa is? The PRESIDENT: Senator Ruston, please resume your seat! When I give you the call don't be disrespectful. If you're calling a point of order, stand and make that clear—don't just launch into an attack on a minister because you don't like the answer to your question. Minister, please continue. Senator WATT: I'm very familiar with the issue. It was obviously in the various newspapers today. The point I'm making is that, unlike the former government, this government is actually dealing with the extreme visa processing backlog that it inherited. As I said, in the short time we've been in office we have got the backlog of visa applications down to 600,000 from the one million we inherited. How did we do that? By actually putting more staff in the system to process those visas. Staff to support the visa system decreased by 20 per cent from 2015-16 until we came to government. That's the answer to the question. (Time expired) The PRESIDENT: Senator Ruston, second supplementary?