Tehan: 457 visas help in regional Victoria

A Liberal frontbencher has defended the use of foreign worker visas saying without them his area of southwestern Victoria wouldn't have enough doctors or abattoir workers.

Dan Tehan disagrees with coalition colleague George Christensen who doesn't want imported workers on 457s in his north Queensland electorate, saying that's not the case in Wannon.

"Our abattoirs need 457 visa workers ... it means that local workers get jobs because it means that we can get the sale that we need to have to have those abattoirs," he told ABC radio on Thursday.