Susan Lamb (Longman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Another concern that I have with this proposal is that, while it is designed to give young people a job, it could, in fact, negate the need for existing employees to work at certain times and certain industries like retail or hospitality or construction. In 2013, this was foreshadowed by the Fair Work Ombudsman in a report titled: 'Unpaid work arrangements: exploitation or experience?'

One of the key findings of the report was that a significant number of workers, particularly young workers, were asked and required to undertake unpaid job trials or unpaid training internships which actually went beyond any sort of reasonable training period. The report found that such arrangements, similar to the one being put forward by the government, effectively allowed for the performance of work on an unpaid basis when that work would normally have been undertaken by a paid employee. It should also be remembered that we are currently seeing a radical change in the landscape of our country's workforce. In August, Morgan Stanley flagged that under employment had hit a record in 9.3 per cent. Every month we are seeing the increased casualisation of our workforce, with fewer full-time jobs and a growing trend towards part-time and casual employment.

This internship proposal risks further fuelling that increasing trend, replacing young full-time and part-time workers with cheaper sporadic labour. For me, this represents a grave danger to the future prosperity of young Australians entering the workforce today. Too often I hear stories of exceptionally qualified young Australians struggling to find a job, whether it is a university graduate, a TAFE student or another enthusiastic young person who just wants to enter the workforce. Right across the nation, there are 272,400 young Australians who are out of work. We have a youth unemployment rate that is more than double the national average, but I reject the notion that the way to fix this issue is by introducing an intern program that will see more young people being paid below the minimum wage and performing roles that could have been filled by employees being paid a proper wage.

As I said earlier, Labor have always supported meaningful investment and initiatives that give young people a pathway towards long-term, stable and fulfilling employment. We acknowledge that there is a real need for investment and initiatives to help tackle our youth unemployment. I know this because in Longman, where I am from, there is nothing more important to local people than having a decent job. I have been at school award ceremonies and I have been in the local community in the last few weeks, and I have listened to parents talk about their aspirations for their children—aspirations like those I hold for my four sons. But if we allow this proposal to go through unchecked, we will run the risk of creating a situation like that in the United States, where employees are forced to compete against one another in what the Fair Work Ombudsman has described as a race to the bottom on wages.

What we need right now from this government is greater clarity and tighter regulations to protect young workers from exploitation. We need greater restrictions in place to ensure that businesses simply cannot keep churning through young interns at the expense of other workers being paid a proper wage. This is not only about ensuring that we protect workers; it is about accountability and making sure the taxpayers are getting value for money.

To conclude, we will await the outcome of the Senate inquiry into the broader implications of this policy. We will evaluate the outcomes in good faith and will propose sensible amendments that we believe are necessary to protect the interests of young Australian workers. But what we will not do is blindly follow the lead of the Turnbull government, because this is another example of their inability to properly formulate policy. There are no details and there is no substance—just empty words and slogans. We know that this is not good enough. We will keep holding those opposite to account in the national interest.

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