Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Holt, who has spent all her time, both in this parliament and beforehand, trying to make sure that wages are moving for some of the lowest-paid Australians.

Last year this parliament legislated for secure jobs and better pay. This year—today, this afternoon, immediately after question time—this government will introduce legislation designed to close the loopholes that undercut wages and conditions in this country. There are four main loopholes that need to be closed. The first relates to the gig economy. The others relate to wage theft, casuals and labour hire.

On the gig economy, at the moment, for all those people working in the gig economy, because they are not technically employees, every single one of their rights falls off a cliff. They have no minimum rates of pay. They have no guaranteed conditions. Every one of their rights falls off a cliff because of the method of engagement. This government's legislation will accept the flexibility—Australians want the technology; people want the flexibility—but you have to be able to have 21st-century technology without having 19th-century working conditions going with that. That will be reflected in today's legislation.

On wage theft, it has always been the case, as it should be, that, if a worker steals from the till, it's a crime, but it should also be a crime if the employer deliberately steals from the worker. We saw, under those opposite, time after time after time where they'd make tough words about wage theft but then do nothing about it in this parliament, till a point where they went through the charade in this House of introducing legislation to make wage theft a crime, voting for it here and then voting down their own legislation once it got to the Senate.

On casuals, many casuals—most casuals—want to retain the form of engagement that they currently have, but let's not forget that 40 per cent of casuals are over the age of 35, and, if you're in a position where you are maintaining household expenses, your bills aren't casual, your rent is not casual. Try getting a mortgage if you're casual. A number of these people will want to have a right, if their hours already reflect permanent work, to be able to shift to a secure job. Today's legislation will give them that.

Finally, for the labour hire loophole, most businesses don't have enterprise agreements in place, but, where they do, the employer has agreed to minimum rates of pay. Those rates of pay should be the minimum at that workplace; they shouldn't be undercut by the labour hire loophole, where suddenly everything that's been registered and agreed to can be forgotten. Those loopholes have been hanging around for years. The step to close them happens immediately after question time today. (Time expired)

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