Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Governments have a role to play when it comes to securing and helping to create jobs in this country. There is a lot that federal government can do when it comes to policy to help create and secure jobs in this country. Quite frankly, with who has been in this building this week, it is a demonstration that again this government has dropped the ball when it comes to securing jobs and Australian industry. I know many of these people are here with their unions, but we need to look past their union T-shirts and listen to their message.

The AWU are here this week talking about gas and gas policy and about how unfair it is for glass manufacturing and other manufacturing that their competitors in China and Japan can buy Australian gas more cheaply than our manufacturers here can buy it. That puts our products that we make here in this country at a disadvantage, and they are asking for an equal playing field when it comes to gas and gas prices in this country. That is not just an issue for the glass industry; it is an issue for all manufacturing industries. It is an issue for a number of our sectors.

Our shipbuilders are back here this week. Despite the government's announcement and white paper on defence, they are back because they believe the government have not come through with their promise about building ships in South Australia. They are AMWU members, and again I ask the government to look past their union shirts and listen to their message.

The MUA are here again with the jobs embassy out the front of our Parliament House, again calling on the government to do everything it can to save shipping jobs—good, high-skilled paying jobs. They are being replaced time and time again by foreign crews who are paid as little as $2 an hour. The government should do more. Other governments have done more to save shipping jobs in their industry. Shipping jobs in the United States have been saved through the Jones Act. We have seen Brazil and Canada move recently to protect their coastal shipping to save jobs.

We have also had here this week United Voice and SDA members, retail and hospitality workers, speaking out about gross exploitation in their workplaces. They are calling on this government to support Labor's private member's bill in the Senate, stamping out and cracking down on sham contracting and workers' exploitation. Young men and women have spoken about what is going on in their industries, including a 7-Eleven worker who was not paid his proper entitlements and his proper wage for eight months. He was asked to give back half of his salary to his franchisee, and then when he questioned the issue he was sacked; he was shown the door. There was also the hospitality worker who works for a company that engages in a lot of backpacker labour and backpacker visas. She was asked to sign away her penalty rates on a new collective agreement when her employer decided to subcontract her labour and that of her workmates. This is what some employers are doing across the board. Rather than directly employing their workers, they are saying, 'We've decided to outsource you or subcontract you.' They are subcontracting out their HR obligations, and the government have done nothing. It is easy for them. We have done the hard yards. The bill is in the Senate. The government just needs to vote for it in the Senate and in the lower house to crack down on worker exploitation. We have also had the TWU and our truck owner-drivers here about the Safe Rates campaign. This particular issue will ensure not only road safety but that our truck drivers are paid for every single hour worked.

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