Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

It would be unusual if I had that level of detail to hand. I can certainly get that for the member. I am aware of several occasions where the ombudsman has taken complaints about underpayment that originally went to a union, without action, and then went to the ombudsman for action. I am aware that in the last budget this government provided $10. 8 million to the Fair Work Ombudsman to investigate precisely the types of things that we're now talking about. I am aware that our government has a zero tolerance for this sort of behaviour, whether that is underpayment or wage theft. The difficulty is that they seem, over there, to have a very low tolerance for underpayment but they've got a monstrously high tolerance when it's workers' money being diverted from workers to unions. That's when their tolerance levels seem to get out of whack.

We have $10.8 million given by this government to the Fair Work Ombudsman to investigate these matters. They are now investigated more heavily than they have ever been investigated previously. That builds on $30 million in unpaid wages, representing more than 13,000 workers, with completed audits of 4½ thousand Australian workplaces. That is more than when Labor were last in office. When Labor were last in office—and this might interest the member for Wills—notwithstanding their indignation today, they cut the funding of the Fair Work Ombudsman by 17 per cent. When they were in government, they cut the funding of the body that investigates underpayment, by 17 per cent. Do you know what they also cut, Member for Wills? The Fair Work Ombudsman's staff, who are paid money to investigate underpayment of wages, were cut by 20 per cent by members opposite. The indignation exists now, but, when the rubber was on the road and they were required to investigate these matters, they underfunded and cut the staff of the organisation that was meant to investigate these matters. We'd be very happy for another question like that, Member for Wills—another dixer.

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