Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill makes clear that we finally have a government that wants to see wages move. After 10 years of deliberate, harmful, shameful wage suppression from those opposite, this bill means more money for people in my community of Chisholm to spend in the community, to spend in small businesses that are such an important part of our local economy. In rising today to speak in support of this bill, I want to acknowledge those people who have worked so hard to push for pay and gender equity and a fairer bargaining system, who have been committed to advancing the ambitions of our nation. I acknowledge those who have fought for wage justice in our own time and who have been part of the struggle through history. I think of the low-paid women workers in the Tailoresses' Union in Victoria, my home state, who took action in the 19th century after being excluded from industrial laws due to their work in sweatshops undertaking piecework. I think of brave, bold Zelda D'Aprano who in 1969 famously chained herself to the Commonwealth Building, protesting the failure to deliver equal pay, and refused to pay full price for tram fares, reflecting the pay gap between women and men, paying a fare proportionate to her wage rather than that charged for men. I think of the early childhood educators, care workers, United Workers Union members who will see their wages improve as a result of this legislation.

That we are putting forward legislation to change the way workers, including women workers, are able to win fair wages is significant. As history shows, this is part of a long struggle. Where are we today? The gender pay gap is at 14.1 per cent. The care and community sectors, including aged care, early childhood education, disability care, health and a wide range of social and community services are some of the fastest-growing sectors in Australia. It is predicted that in the next five years Australia will need to fill over 300,000 jobs in the health and social assistance sector—far more than in any other sector. A recent report by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia found that 65,000 workers are leaving the aged-care sector each year, which shows just how grave the crisis is that is facing aged-care residents and aged-care workers. And recent research shows that 30 to 48 per cent of educators leave the early childhood education and care sector each year. Those rates are double the national turnover average and triple the average rate of turnover for primary school educators.

People are leaving or under extreme pressure in vital sectors because their work is not properly valued and remunerated. As it stands, there is currently no simple, effective and fast mechanism to properly value the work of care and community sector workers. Enterprise bargaining is difficult and largely ineffective in the care and community sector. These are highly fragmented workplaces where single-enterprise bargaining doesn't work. In early learning alone there are over 17,000 individual centres and over 7,200 providers, and 80 per cent of the sector is operated by single-centre providers. In aged care, unions currently can't bargain employer by employer, because the main funder doesn't sit at the bargaining table.

Work value and equal remuneration order cases are expensive, take years to progress and have been largely unsuccessful in addressing the undervaluation of care work. The current system makes it almost impossible to bargain in other low-paid sectors, such as contract cleaning, where around two-thirds of the workforce is reliant on the award. Contract cleaning and contract security tenders by companies normally involve a range of cost inputs. The highest cost is usually the cost of labour and wages. To win a tender for a contract, contractors compete on price, generally locking in an estimate of wages over the life of the contract. The result is a race to the bottom. Those with the lowest estimated wages win the contract. Those companies that are willing to provide better pay and conditions to their workforce are unable to compete in this terrible race to the bottom.

To enable low-paid workers to participate in multi-employer bargaining will be life-changing and will make it easier for companies that want to provide good wages and conditions to do so. This bill is about getting wages moving and building a better future for all Australians. I am so proud to be part of a government that is ambitious for my community of Chisholm, for their wages, and for all communities across Australia. There is so much to be said about what this bill means and what it does, but at the heart of it is this: respect, fairness and dignity. These are principles that mean something to this side of the House, and we will put them into action through delivering secure jobs and better pay for workers across Australia. Thank you.

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