Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The bill before us today is about fairness, and it is about who it is in Australia that really stands up for workers rights. Those opposite always talk about fairness, but they do not have a licence on fairness. Vulnerable workers have only one true friend in this place: it is the coalition government, who have proposed the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Bill 2017.

I have spoken often in this place, and outside, about union corruption and malfeasance, and rightly so. Unscrupulous and criminal union officials have defrauded workers of their money, caused reductions in their pay, increased the costs of the services on which they rely and even caused them physical intimidation and harm. I have spoken often on that issue, but, in the interests of fairness, this bill is about tackling the other side of the equation.

Vulnerable workers are often hurt and neglected through their unions' misbehaviour and self-interest. But sometimes they are hurt by unscrupulous employers. The Turnbull government recognise this fact, and, unlike those opposite, we are interested in solving people's problems, not in protecting our mates or scoring political points. We have proposed this bill because we have looked at the evidence, uncovered by a series of inquiries, and we have accepted the serious concerns that they have identified. Take, for example, the Heydon royal commission. We accepted its findings, and we acted by reintroducing the Australian Building and Construction Commission. We are doing just that here.

Fairness is about treating everyone the same. It is about taking on those who are doing the wrong thing wherever you find them, and whoever they are. Those opposite claim that theirs is the party that stands up for workers rights. That claim, however, has rung hollow for a very long time. Today, led by a man who has spent most of his life giving workers rights away, that proposition is nothing short of laughable. With their words, members opposite pretend to take a stand for vulnerable working Australians; however, with their actions they again and again betray the very workers they claim to represent. When the time comes to make speeches, they are brave—they huff and they puff; they pontificate; they claim the moral high ground and talk the good fight—but when the time comes to act, when they have the power to make a real difference to workers lives, they slink away and sell workers out for their union mates. Those opposite have only one constituent, only one lord and master, and that is the Australian union movement. That is who they represent.

Let us examine the facts, because the contrasts are very clear. The central object of this bill is to stamp out the practice of underpaying workers. The Fair Work Ombudsman's inquiry into 7-Eleven, as one example, identified the systematic underpayment of migrant workers. This is being done through direct underpayment. It is being done through the creation of false pay slips and employment records. And it is being done by coercing workers, by way of threats or intimidation, to wrongly give back money they were rightly paid. This bill seeks to stop these practices by imposing stiff penalties on offenders, by ensuring that those who could prevent these actions take the proper responsibility and by giving the Fair Work Ombudsman the power it needs to find and punish unscrupulous employers. The coalition government, with this bill, is seeking to ensure that workers are not underpaid.

What is the Leader of the Opposition's record on protecting workers' pay? In sharp contrast, as National Secretary of the Australian Workers' Union, he happily signed up to the workers he looked after receiving less than their lawful entitlements. The workers at Clean Event, for example, were stripped of all penalty rates with no compensation, under a 2006 agreement for which the Leader of the Opposition was responsible. The Melbourne and Olympic Parks Trust agreements, which he approved in 2001 and 2003, stripped workers of almost all penalty rates and overtime. The Leader of the Opposition, however, has not been alone. The union movement all over Australia has been getting stuck into reducing workers' pay, often in return for benefits for the union itself, for years. That is why workers at many five-star hotels, having the so-called benefit of a union negotiated enterprise agreement, are paid $10.24 an hour less than those on the Fair Work Commission's penalty rates. That is why workers at David Jones and Dan Murphy's and KFC and McDonald's get up to $8 less than their counterparts on award rates. This bill protects vulnerable workers' pay, while the Leader of the Opposition and those opposite give it away.

Another of the central objects of this bill is tackling the lawlessness and unfairness in the workplace that undermine workers' rights. Part 1 of schedule 1 of the bill introduces tough new penalties for serious contraventions of the Fair Work Act and even tougher penalties where those contraventions are systematic. The bill makes it clear, in no uncertain terms, that exploiting workers is unacceptable and that this government will come down very hard on unscrupulous employers that engage in this type of unconscionable conduct. The government do a great deal to support small businesses that are doing the right thing, but we believe in fairness and we believe in the rule of law, so we are tough on all businesses that are failing to respect employees' rights. Part 3 of schedule 1 ensures that it is clear and unambiguous that the specific practice of requiring, without good reason, an employee to directly or indirectly pay back any amount of the money to which they are entitled is prohibited and subject to significant penalties under the law. Part 6 also prohibits employers from making and keeping false records relating to employees and, in particular, pay slips. This will help to stamp out the practice of providing what looks like proper pay and conditions but is in reality withholding that pay or reclaiming it from workers in cash. All of these provisions will work to stamp out employer misconduct where it happens and ensure that workers are not deprived of their lawful entitlements through intimidation. That is what the Turnbull government is proposing.

What is the track record of members opposite when it comes to stamping out lawlessness that deprives workers of their rights? First, as evidence mounted that AWU officials were misappropriating workers' funds and that Labor Party members were facing allegations of fraud, Labor did everything they could to prevent the setting up of a royal commission to investigate. When it was up and running, they did everything they could to undermine it and protect their corrupt union mates—and they still are.

When the Heydon royal commission had referred more than 40 people to authorities, when there were more than 100 union officials before the courts, when the royal commission had identified widespread union corruption, illegality and violence, when it had demonstrated the damage unions were doing to workers' rights, their pay and conditions and even their safety, what did these champions of the working man do? They fought tooth and nail to prevent the reintroduction of the one body that could do something about it. They voted down our efforts to reintroduce a tough cop on the beat. They were even willing to go to a double dissolution election to prevent it. The Labor Party tried to absolve the unions. They blamed a few bad apples. Not taking responsibility for their actions is a habit of the Labor Party—for example, not taking responsibility for the ideological energy policies that have resulted in crippling, rising costs, and not taking responsibility for the Fair Work Commission inquiry that they set up.

This bill seeks to stamp out lawlessness and unfairness in the workplace. The Labor Party tried to keep workers vulnerable to the illegal activities of their union mates for the economic benefit of those unions and the ALP, who received more than $10 million from the union movement in disclosed donations alone in 2015-16.

Another of the central objects of this bill is ensuring that authorities have the power to investigate and catch these corporate wrongdoers. Under part 4 of schedule 1, the bill introduces new formal evidence-gathering powers which will give the Fair Work Ombudsman the same sort of authority as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the ACCC. With these new powers, the Fair Work Ombudsman will be able to compel a person who they reasonably suspect of having information relating to an investigation to attend before them to answer questions. This is an important power, as far too often unscrupulous employers do not keep the records that would expose their misdeeds, and others destroy them when an investigation begins, just as the CFMEU did when under investigation by the Heydon royal commission.

Under part 5 of schedule 1, the bill prohibits anyone from hindering or obstructing the Fair Work Ombudsman or a prescribed official acting in the course of their duties. Part 6 of this schedule also introduces significant penalties for anyone giving false or misleading documents to the Fair Work Ombudsman.

The coalition government is making sure with this bill that the Fair Work Ombudsman has the real teeth it needs to find the truth.

What is the Labor Party's record? It is very simple. When they had a chance, they took this power away. They abolished the ABCC in 2012 and, with it, its power to compel witnesses to attend. They also took away the power for the regulator to enforce the law if a secret settlement had been reached. They created a situation unique among Australian regulatory agencies and replaced the ABCC with a toothless tiger.

The state Labor government in Queensland have recently gone even further to ensure that our authorities are unable to uncover and investigate illegal activity that is hurting workers in our state. They have instigated Queensland's withdrawal from the Trade Union Joint Police Taskforce. This task force had been rooting out and prosecuting examples of union corruption which were damaging workers' interests all over Australia. But now, thanks to the state Labor government, it will not be operating in Queensland. Do you think it is a coincidence that the state Labor government would have disbanded that police task force? Hardly.

As for hindering an investigation, we have only to look at how Labor approached the Heydon royal commission. As the evidence it uncovered mounted and the case about the union movement became stronger and stronger, they called it a witch-hunt. They called it politically biased. They called its well-evidenced findings smears and sought to undermine its very well respected commissioner on frivolous grounds.

While this bill ensures that the Fair Work Ombudsman will have the investigative powers it needs to protect vulnerable workers from unscrupulous employers, Labor have done everything they could to prevent investigation into their union mates. Labor is weak on corruption, weak on crime and weak on accountability providing it is them and their union mates that are being held to account.

This bill is a tough but proportionate response to the facts that have emerged about a small number of employers who are exploiting vulnerable workers. It is one of a number of such measures that the Turnbull government has introduced to protect workers in Australia.

Only one side of politics today believes in fairness. Only one side stands up for workers rights, and that is this government.

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