Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2015-2016 and the Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2015-2016, because there are issues that the opposition are concerned about in relation to the proposed legislation. This government continues with its advocacy for the cuts that were first proposed in the 2014-15 budget, and it should not be forgotten that many of the provisions in the bills that were proposed by the former Prime Minister and the former Treasurer are now proposed by the current Prime Minister and the current Treasurer.

This afternoon I would like to refer to some of the failures of the government in relation to worker exploitation. I think it is clear that there have been increased instances of exploitation. It is becoming more common and, as a result of some of the good efforts by media outlets—the ABC, Fairfax and others—we are seeing greater levels of exploitation of workers in this country exposed. When we see systemic exploitation of working people it is important that there is some response by government. But, to date, there has been little or no effort by the Turnbull government to respond to such exploitation. In my contribution this afternoon I want to outline the opposition's policies in relation to this area because it seems to me that it would be left to Labor to fill the void that exists within the government. We have seen too many examples of exploitation of workers. Some very high-profile companies—household names, in fact—have been associated with exploitation. A very recent example where there has been very significant exploitation is 7-Eleven. Potentially thousands of workers have been involved and at least $100 million in underpayments. That is a great concern to Labor. But it is not only 7-Eleven.

Pizza Hut delivery drivers have been paid as little as $6 an hour—almost one-third of the minimum wage—under some sham contracting arrangements. Subcontractors who provide services to Myer have been significantly exploited. We have also seen workers providing services to Steggles chicken exploited. The injury to those workers is great. Many of these workers are low paid as it is, but to be underpaid so significantly and for such a long period does enormous injury to them and it also does enormous injury to the majority of employers who do the right thing. If we allow employers to undermine employment conditions in this country we are also injuring the majority of employers who pay conditions of employment pursuant to Australian law. We are punishing and putting enormous pressure on those good employers who do the right thing, because their competitors are reducing their labour costs unlawfully and therefore putting downward pressure on wages generally.

It is absolutely vital, given the prevalence of exploitation, that the government respond, particularly in light of the fact that the federal jurisdiction now predominantly covers the field in industrial relations. There was a time when state and federal jurisdictions shared industrial instruments, but it is predominantly the case now that the federal jurisdiction covers the field and so I would argue that it is the primary responsibility of the federal government to respond. To date there has been little or no response by the government.

On 15 October last year, the Minister for Employment announced a ministerial working group comprising the Minister for Employment, the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, the Minister for Justice—who is at the table—and other ministerial colleagues. However, to date there has been no action by that working group and it is therefore incumbent on the Minister for Employment to explain what will be done.

I sought information in relation to this ministerial working group. In fact, on 11 December last year we submitted an FOI request to a number of departments, including the Attorney-General's Department, for access to documents relating to this ministerial working group. I asked questions of the role and the information that might have been provided to the Minister for Justice. The answer I received from the department in relation to the Minister for Justice's office states: 'I have identified that the Minister for Justice's office has no documents that fall within the scope of your request. A thorough electronic search for documents has been undertaken as well as making inquiries of those who may have been able to help locate relevant documents.'

We asked for any internal office briefs or covering notes to the department's briefs prepared by the minister's staff; any email correspondence between the minister and her staff, as the employment minister, or between members of the minister's staff; any email correspondence between the minister's staff and the staff in other ministerial offices, including the PMO; and records of any meetings or telephone conferences attended by the minister or her staff. The answer was that there was no information; no documents that fell within that scope. This really shows that there is no point in having a photo opportunity to announce a ministerial working group.

Mr Keenan interjecting—

I understand the sensitivity of the minister whose office had to actually explain that he had no role whatsoever; in fact had not entered into any correspondence with the Minister for Employment and had no details whatsoever in relation to these matters. The fact is the reason there were no details to the questions we asked is that this working group is not working.

The ministerial working group that involves the Minister for Justice, the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and the Minister for Employment is not working because they have no interest whatsoever, I would contend, in examining and redressing the widespread exploitation that is occurring with respect to workers in this country. For that reason, we had to ensure that we filled the void left by the government because the government is not responding. We would have done this as a matter of course, but it became more pressing given the government has done so little.

The announcement we made on 1 February this year was to ensure that those rogue employers who do the wrong thing do not continue to do the wrong thing. For example, we would ensure we cracked down on underpayments to workers through significantly increased penalties for employers who deliberately and systematically avoid paying their employees. We would also ensure that we ramped up protection for workers from sham contracting by strengthening legal protections for workers' entitlements and increasing penalties. We would give the Fair Work Ombudsman more power to pursue employers who liquidate their companies in order to avoid paying the money they owe their workers. We would also introduce reforms to ensure that temporary overseas workers were not being exploited and underpaid, and that there is a level playing field for all workers in Australia. There is no doubt there has been a perverse incentive to exploit workers on temporary visas because they have no redress in law if they are being underpaid. We want to ensure that we sort that out.

In the absence of any effort by the government to redress what I think is widespread exploitation by rogue employers, Labor have announced those policies. Indeed, we have written to employer groups, employers, unions and others about these reforms and attached an exposure draft of the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Australian Workers) Bill 2016. I seek leave to table that draft bill.

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