Laurie Ferguson (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Representing the biggest concentration of Bangladeshis in this country, I am very mindful of many issues in that country. Whilst it has made monumental gains in regards to its birth rate and is internationally renowned for its educational outcomes, it obviously is faced with a serious climate change issue which was focused upon last week by revelations of the collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet. However, another issue that has come onto the agenda very much in the past year has been the question of industrial safety in the garment industry, which accounts for 80 per cent of Bangladesh's foreign earnings.

The death of 1,100 people as a result of the activities of Sohel Rana—a businessman with significant political contacts who fled to the border and had to be detained by police—was a very serious international focus. I note, however, that despite that focus and despite the fact that companies have signed up to international accords—most particularly European rather than North American—the situation is still very serious. The New York University Centre for Business and Human Rights made this analysis of the situation in Bangladesh quite recently:

The government of Bangladesh lacks the resources, administrative capacity and often the will to protect workers in garment factories. Local industry enjoys outsized influence in the country's politics, which impacts the establishment and enforcement of rigorous registration.

It should be noted that one of the outcomes of the international outrage at the plaza destruction was that, for the first time, workers did not have to have permission from employers to actually join unions.

If we have a look at some of the realities of trying to police this system, we see that, at the end of August, of 1,500 factories only 237 had union representatives. When we talk about union representation, we are not actually talking about a specific union structure on the site—that is any presence at all. In The Guardian of 25 April, Sarah Butler, certainly presented a major expose with regard to that matter. Very recently we have had the situation of Softex and Fame Knitting having to be closed down because of continuing safety issues, similar to what caused this catastrophic collapse in the first place. The comments of Rezwan Seilm, Softex chief executive, typify what we are facing. He said the closure was 'unfair to the workers' and that there were 'serious structural problems', and they continue in other factories—locks on fire exits, lack of sprinkler and fire alarms, chaotic cabling and overladen buildings. That is the reality of the country.

At European behest, organised by the ILO and some international garment companies, we have had improvements with regard to the oversight of these plants. However, the situation continues to be very serious. The previous speaker alluded to the disappearance of one union leader. Recently shots were fired at demonstrators who still have not received the compensation of $645 per person that was promised. Some of them are still to receive it and as late as March and April people were fired upon.

Bangladesh's cabinet has only now had some amendments to a 2005 labour act which, as I said earlier, seriously eroded union authority. Whilst there have been some notable activities by companies such as the Disney Corporation and European operators, it is still alarming to see that Benetton had a factory close down for their Olympus subsidiary, where workers as young as 13 and 16 were working and the conditions were totally unsafe. Once again, we have a very interesting comment from management. Their response to having 13- and 16-year-old workers in unsafe conditions was: 'At least they are not on the streets.'

I agree with mover of this resolution that Australian consumers should be mindful of the realities of Australian companies not signing up to this. Rather than following organisations like Walmart in being resistant. The Just Group and Best and Less, which are leading companies in this country, have failed to act, failed to protect workers and basically they are more concerned with getting product into this country with the exploitation of Bangladeshi workers. I fully agree with the resolution as moved.

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