Labor taps resentment on 457 visas Out of work tradies picket against the use of 457 visa workers. Government claims that Australians were being forced to the back of the jobs queue are being driven by confidential feedback from voters telling the ALP its message about foreigners has hit the mark in key electorates. Fairfax Media has been told focus group research being conducted for the ALP in recent days has shown strident promises by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and senior ministers to put "Aussie" jobs first, have tested favourably with voters, especially in Labor's heartland seats such as those in the sprawling western suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne. A senior government insider said voters believed the 457 skilled migrant visa program had been rorted by unscrupulous employers, with the result that Australian workers with suitable skills were being shunted to the back of the jobs line. Ms Gillard will step up the case on Thursday in a major speech to the ACTU. "We want more Australian workers to fill the skilled jobs our economy creates," her speech notes say. This is exactly what the Australian people expect the Australian government to stand for ... I offer absolutely no apology for putting the opportunities of Australian working people first, front and centre, wherever they were born. I have absolutely no doubt our policy approach to temporary foreign work is good economics and good social policy. Labor believes it has tapped into an underlying community resentment which provides a conduit back to the hearts and minds of once rusted-on supporters who have left the party in recent times. However, the source denied the appeal spoke to a latent racism, but rather to a sense that employers wanted compliant workers who were less likely to assert their rights to proper pay and conditions. Another factor is a sense that foreign workers were enjoying the economic boom, rather than locals. The source said many Australians were feeling like it was "somebody else's boom." The government ramped up its criticism on Wednesday in Parliament organising Dorothy Dix questions from its own MPs to press home its message that the scheme, originally introduced by the Howard Coalition government, needed tightening because of widespread abuse. Warming to the theme, new Immigration Minister Brendan O'Connor even managed to link the 457 visa scheme to the former government's Work Choices industrial relations laws. "Too many 457 sponsors are doing the wrong thing," Mr O'Connor told Parliament. He said there was evidence of people being brought in from abroad to fill vacancies in the IT industry rather than training up willing young Australians. The hospitality industry was also singled out. "The approach of the opposition to 457s is just like Work Choices by another name and it feels the same too - just let the market rip," he said.