Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to 19-year-old Shane Denning from Penrith, New South Wales, who is in the gallery today. He was contracted to do warehouse and delivery work for Cabramatta company BM Sydney Building Materials at a rate of pay of $10.20 per hour. Is the Prime Minister aware that the applicable hourly award rate in New South Wales for an employee doing the same work that Shane was contracted to do is $14.80? Doesn’t this mean that had Shane been employed under the award instead of engaged as a contractor he would have been paid $240 a week more, working the 45 hours he was contracted for? Prime Minister, doesn’t your independent contractors legislation just mean more people like Shane will be forced onto sham contracts and be worse off?

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