Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises the one year anniversary of the Rana Plaza building collapsed in Bangladesh, which killed more than 1,130 people in 2013;

(2) notes the:

(a) existence of the Bangladesh Accord, an independent agreement designed to make all garment factories in Bangladesh safe workplaces; and

(b) Accord has been signed by over 150 apparel corporations from 20 countries in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia, two global trade unions, IndustriALL and UNI Global Union, and numerous Bangladeshi unions; and

(3) calls on the remaining companies in Australia and abroad to sign and adhere to the spirit of the Accord.

On 24 April last year, Rana Plaza, an eight-storey commercial building, collapsed in the Greater Dhaka Area in Bangladesh. The official death toll was 1,130, with approximately 2,515 people injured. I want to raise this tragic event as a matter of public importance, as part of the process of remembering and healing: to show the world has not forgotten and that those who died and those who were injured did not do so in vain. I want to speak to Australians of our obligations, moral and practical, to the people affected and to thousands like them—supporting the work of unionists like Michele O'Neil of the Textile Clothing & Footwear Union of Australia and civil society activists who I stood with at a solemn vigil in Melbourne on the date of the anniversary—a very moving occasion. The Rana Plaza collapse is the largest industrial disaster in history but, sadly, far from the only one in Bangladesh. Oxfam state that 1,800 people have died in factory fires and collapses in Bangladesh in the past 10 years. In this age of globalisation, it seems we have    outsourced danger. It has become trite to acknowledge that some of the biggest, most expensive brands are manufactured in Bangladesh with the employees there earning about $A55 per month. But it is also worth noting that some cheaper brands utilise this labour.

The core issue is not just about how and where our clothes are manufactured, it is about how we treat one another and what price we put on human life. It is hard not to feel powerless sometimes in the face of globalisation and such continued tragedy. After all, how many of us can really say we know the conditions of the factories where our clothes were made? But responsibility lies with all of us to be conscious and ethical consumers. To do this, we need conscious and ethical clothing companies and retailers. Determining if clothing has been made ethically is not, sadly, a straightforward process. Michele O'Neil made this point, saying that Australian companies need to be transparent about their supply chains. So the ABC asked companies for the location of their Bangladeshi suppliers and copies of their audit reports. None were forthcoming. According to Ms O'Neil, it is because these companies employ their own auditors to check their own factories.

However, it would be a mistake to simply boycott clothing made in Bangladesh. Recently, Sumi Abedin was brought to Australia by Oxfam to speak about this issue. Sumi used to work in the Tarzeen garment factory in Bangladesh, which was destroyed by fire, and 112 of her coworkers died in this fire. Padlocked exit doors and barred windows left Sumi with the choice of jumping for her life or dying in the fire. Thankfully, she survived. Sumi's translator and Bangladeshi garment workers' rights activist Kalpona Akter reiterated this sentiment, stating: 'If you boycott, you're just hurting the people you're trying to help. What's happening in Bangladeshi factories is happening in garment markets all over the world: in South-east Asia, China and South America.'

I am pleased that workers' voices are being heard and listened to. It is important that these workers are given the respect and indeed the agency they deserve as human beings. Unfortunately, in Bangladesh today it is almost impossible for workers to have a say about their working conditions directly. According to Human Rights Watch, in April 2012 Aminul Islam, a labour rights activist, was murdered after being arbitrarily detained and tortured by government security forces. His murder remains unsolved. Over a dozen labour rights leaders currently face criminal charges on a variety of spurious grounds. Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, is adamant about the role that organised labour has in ensuring these tragedies no longer occur. Had one or more of the Rana Plaza factories been unionised, workers could have refused to enter the building the day it collapsed. This tragedy shows that the right to organise a union in Bangladesh is not just a matter of fair wages—it's a matter of saving lives.

I acknowledge that some progress has been made. More than 150 global brands and retailers have signed the historic Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh with the Industrial Global Union and UNI Global Union. The accord is a five-year legally binding agreement between international labour organisations, NGOs and retailers engaged in the textile industry to maintain minimum safety standards. Unfortunately, some Australian companies, including Just Group and Best and Less, still refuse to sign. I urge them to do so immediately and stand up for human rights. It just isn't good enough. The accord goes some way to achieving a fairer and more just garment industry but we must do more, as individuals and as a society. This is more than just about how much products cost; this is about the cost to our collective humanity if we forget and do nothing. I choose to remember. I pledge to shop ethically and to do all I can to support workers in Bangladesh to organise collectively as well as to secure living wages and decent health and safety conditions.

See this speech in context