Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

The Seasonal Worker Program is about aid. It's about giving workers in our Pacific region an opportunity to come to this country to help us in the agricultural space—to fill gaps in labour, particularly seasonal ones—and to earn some money under good working conditions and take it home. Unfortunately, the program, which is a Commonwealth employment program, has had a number of tragic deaths. A media report at the end of last year revealed that 13 people in the Seasonal Worker Program had tragically died while being here. Since then, there have been further deaths. This is a Commonwealth government program, and there has been report after report of worker exploitation, of workers not being paid or being paid as little as $8 or $6 an hour.

The first question has to be: how can this occur in a government employment program? What is the government doing in-country to ensure these workers (1) know what their rights are, and (2) are coming here and living in decent conditions? We know, through reports from the community, that many of these people live in squalid conditions, are underpaid and have dreadfully long working hours. This is a program that had so much potential, yet it has been plagued by constant exploitation, and it has been left up to the media and the unions to expose those problems. How has the government addressed all of these issues? Quite frankly, they have been very quiet on the issue.

Another area where the government have completely failed is the gig economy. Under the government's watch, we are now seeing people being paid as little as $5 or $6 an hour because of unfair employment conditions. The government talk so much about small business, but what are the government doing about unfair contracts for cafe and restaurant owners? Some of them have been forced by Uber Eats into contracts taking 35 per cent! If the government are so dead keen on supporting small business, just what are they doing to crack down on this kind of behaviour? The gig economy has promised so much opportunity. What we have seen through Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Uber and the gig economy is exploitation of the workers, and the Fair Work Ombudsman says, 'We are struggling to see how we can actually enforce rights here.' At the same time, we are seeing exploitation of small businesses, with cafe owners saying that they are being forced into unfair contracts, taking 35 per cent of the price. What are the government doing to address the growing problem that we have with the gig economy and how it is exploiting both workers and businesses?

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