Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party, Minister for Small and Family Business, the Workplace and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

Obviously, there is a lot of territory to cover, so I will do my best to cover it as quickly as I can. To the member for Bendigo, my first response—if she did, and I take her at her word, send that strawberry business, as I think it was, to the Fair Work Ombudsman—is that I was in Perth last week on the phones, and there are four categories of calls and not one of them had an on-hold time of more than three minutes. I think the term was 'busy'; they got the busy signal. I don't know what that actually means, but my advice to her is to go back to that business and tell them to ring and dob in who it is they're talking about.

In terms of the Victorian bill and what we're doing about vulnerable workers, the vulnerable workers act—it's not a bill anymore; it's now an act; it's passed the Senate—

Ms Chesters interjecting—

I'll get to that in a minute, Member for Bendigo. The vulnerable workers act was an additional $20.1 million that was resourced to the Fair Work Ombudsman to attack this sort of behaviour—a job that is being done Australia-wide as we speak. In the Senate, those opposite actually voted against the act, they're so concerned about vulnerable workers! In terms of resourcing the Fair Work Ombudsman, in the opposition leader's time as the minister responsible for the Fair Work Ombudsman he cut resources. He cut their budget and their staff levels. There was no vulnerable workers act in his time. If those opposite are so concerned about it, why didn't they do something when they were in charge? We are doing something. We have done something—resourcing and empowering the Fair Work Ombudsman.

I am asked whether I support the Victorian legislation on labour hire. It will fail for exactly the reasons the member for Bendigo said—the sub-sub-subcontracting, the gangmaster behaviour. I'm investigating this right now. I'm a much bigger fan of the UK legislation in this space. We are looking at this right now. Why? Because gangmaster operatives will bypass both the Victorian and the Queensland legislation. It will fail for the exact reason that she has pointed out: it won't get the sub-sub-subcontractor. Where do I stand, and where does the Turnbull government stand, on people being underpaid and ripped off? I am personally offended by it and will do everything in my power to stop it. I can assure the member that I'm looking at this right now. In terms of labour hire as a general rule, the industry gets a dud rap. Don't forget that the overwhelming majority of employers who operate in this country do so absolutely within the law. Are there rogues? Yes. Should we catch them? Yes. Should we nail them the wall? Absolutely. If we need to change legislation to do it, we should do so, and we're looking at it right now.

I was asked about Youth Jobs PaTH. The 'prepare' section, employability skills training, has already helped 21,000 people. This is a tough space. That space of long-term unemployed 15- to 24-year-olds is a tough space. Are we prepared to try things in it? Yes, we are. Why? Because we're not prepared to let them become long-term, often intergenerationally, welfare dependent people. The 'prepare' section, employability skills, has trained 21,473 people, and 7,029 of those, or 32.7 per cent, have commenced jobs off the back of that trial. That's that section of it. Internships have helped 2,245 young interns to build their work experience. The 'hire' or youth bonus component of it has led to 24,653 jobs.

I was asked about what we are doing about the CFMEU. Obviously the ABCC and the Registered Organisations Commission have a lot on their plates. The member for Fisher very eloquently ran through some of the most recent behaviour we have seen from them.

I was asked about what we are doing for older Australians. The member for Chifley asked about that. In the budget we announced $189.7 million for the More Choices for a Longer Life package, which has a raft of measures that are again aimed at older Australians and acknowledge the employment journey for some of them, as the latest statistics for kids leaving school today are that they'll have 16 different jobs in five different industries over that journey. We need to be cognisant of that fact. We're trying things. If it doesn't work we'll tailor it, but we won't stop trying things. Why? Because, whether it's the long-term unemployed or people losing their jobs after the age of 50 or 55, we have to do the right thing by them. Do we have to measure and report back? Yes, we do. We'll do that as quickly and efficiently as we possibly can.

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