Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The digital economy is central to all of our lives. Every part of our world we live in is driven by digital technology, commerce and data. This transformation of our economy has presented exciting opportunities and complex challenges, from how we drive new investment in emerging technology to supporting workers who are on the frontline of the transformation of how we work, from investments in critical technologies to incentives that support business adoption and making sure that Australian businesses and families have quality high-speed internet.

The Albanese government is building the foundations of a strong digital future. We have not wasted a minute in embracing and supporting the digital economy. We have an ambitious plan to create 1.2 million tech related jobs by the year 2030 by supporting new business and new workers with digital skills and support they will need for the jobs of the future. In our first budget, we delivered the small business technology investment boost, allowing small business to deduct 20 per cent of the costs incurred on business expenses and depreciating assets that support their digital adoption such as portable payment devices, cybersecurity systems and subscriptions to cloud based services. And we have allocated a billion dollars for enabling technologies in our National Reconstruction Fund, a record investment in manufacturing; investing in new and emerging industries, partnering research and capital to make it easier to commercialise Australian smarts and technology.

Like the member for Casey, I too am a first-time member in this place. However, unlike the member for Casey, I have not conveniently forgotten the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments' woeful record on the digital economy. How anyone opposite can stand up with a straight face and try and proselytise about the previous government's achievements in this space is beyond me. That same Liberal government that destroyed the NBN, systematically tearing apart a once-in-a-generation infrastructure projects that have catapulted Australia's digital economy to the absolute forefront, who demonised fibre to the premises, wasted billions of dollars trying to create a poor quality replacement and lost the better part of a decade in economic productivity dividends, only to announce that it would actually embrace fibre to the premises in 2020. Perhaps that lost decade explains how, according to the Australian Digital Inclusion Index in October 2021, that same Liberal government left 11 per cent of Australians highly excluded from the digital economy, that same Liberal government that threw a billion dollars at the tech industry but barely moved the needle when it came to job creation. It wasted tax dollars, lost economic productivity and stalled job creation in emerging industries. What a record! That is another fine example of the rot and drift that defined the previous government.

There was, however, a greater sin committed by those opposite in respect to the digital economy, one that led to the insidious exploitation of workers, the undercutting of wages and the obliteration of hard-fought and won conditions in the workplace. The proliferation of gig economy workers and the previous government's wilful ignorance to the challenges they faced is a disgrace. They turned a blind eye to the mistreatment of these workers, often some of our newest Australians, either by dereliction or design. They did nothing to protect minimum standards, nothing to enforce minimum wages and nothing to keep workplace laws in line with new forms of work.

I am proudly a member of the Transport Workers' Union. I have heard firsthand the stories of rideshare drivers and food delivery drivers who copped the brunt of this unregulated and dangerous work. I am proud of these workers and for their union for standing up against these platforms—some of the biggest companies in the world—to fight for minimum standards and conditions. Because of their struggle there has been success, with world-leading deals struck between the TWU, the workers they represent and platforms such as Uber and Deliveroo.

There is so much more to do. That's why the Albanese Labor government and my friend the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations will legislate to close the loopholes left open by those opposite in the workplace relations system. We'll require 'same job, same pay' in labour hire, regulate the gig economy by setting conditions for employee-like work, define casual employment and, importantly, make wage theft a crime, no matter the industry.

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