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

Our government was elected on the promise that we would make workplaces fairer, we would get wages moving and we would tackle the problems of insecure work and wage theft, and that is precisely what the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill is about. In my very first speech in this place, I spoke about the need to do more to address the situation is this country where too many people are trapped in insecure work arrangements, making it impossible for them to plan their lives, and the detrimental impact this has on our communities. It is hard for people to put down roots in communities, to participate in local sporting clubs, art groups, volunteer groups, neighbourhood houses and school groups when there is no job security. This is something I am passionate about, having experienced insecure work myself and having worked with many people over the years who have struggled in insecure work arrangements. I firmly believe that people should have jobs they can count on. I'm so pleased that this bill goes some way towards creating the conditions where this can be realised for workers right around the country and in my beautiful community in the electorate of Chisholm.

It is so disappointing, I must say, to hear the seemingly deliberate mischaracterisation from those opposite about what this bill does. I find it really difficult to understand, and I suspect lots of people across the country find it really difficult to understand why those opposite won't do the right thing by our communities. This failure to understand what this bill does to help workers right across the country is unfortunately just another example of those opposite standing in the way of what is right. This bill is very important. It makes crucial changes to workplace laws and will change lives for the better. It will save lives. I'm exceptionally proud to be part of a government that has the vision and courage to introduce this legislation. I want to take this moment to acknowledge the years of hard work of my Labor colleagues, especially those in the broader labour movement: the workers, their families and trade unionists who stood for what is right, for lawful wages, for safe workplaces, for secure work and for respect, dignity and equality for everyone in this country, never forgetting the marginalised who are so often subjected to exploitation, including workplace exploitation, in this country. Yet to make things right is apparently a bridge too far for those opposite.

I thank those in the United Workers Union for their years and years of work on many of the critical issues this bill addresses, and I think now of the workers I've had the pleasure to know over the years who have inspired me with their courageous focus on justice—justice meaning that there are consequences for wage theft, for neglecting to provide a safe workplace. I acknowledge the work of the Young Workers Centre and the Migrant Workers Centre, who have not only ensured that workers have been able to recover wages they were owed, and could stand up for their rights, but have been fierce and fearless advocates for many of the changes this bill makes for workers, particularly in relation to wage theft, the treatment of workers in the gig economy and regarding industrial manslaughter.

This bill contains four main elements. In this bill, our government is taking action to criminalise wage theft, introduce minimum standards for workers in the gig economy, close the forced permanent casual worker loophole and close the labour hire loophole. We have engaged with business groups and consulted on the design of these measures, and this bill realises our commitment as a government to deliver on our election promises to make sure our workplaces are fairer. This legislation ensures that the current law works effectively.

Closing labour hire loopholes will simply require an employer to pay rates that have already been negotiated and agreed to. Despite some of the bluster we've heard from those opposite, there is nothing strange or odd about this proposal. It's sensible.

The employee-like reforms that will impact gig workers simply require workers to have some minimum standards benchmarked against existing award rates when they are working in a way which is like employees. Again, it is astonishing that minimum standards for workers in this country, in the 21st century, are something that those opposite cannot agree that we should have.

Our wage theft reforms will strengthen the enforcement of existing rates of pay, which is important to highlight, as most employers don't want to be undercut by bad actors doing the wrong thing. It's very, very simply the right thing to do. It will put money back into the pockets of workers, where it should be.

Our new definition of casual employment will clarify what was always intended with casual work—that, if you're working regular and predictable hours and you want to be permanent, you will have that pathway available to you. It's a reasonable measure.

These laws will strengthen the current workplace relations framework and provide certainty, fairness and a level playing field for both businesses and workers.

We know that labour hire has some legitimate uses in providing surge and specialist workforces, and that will continue to be the case. Of course it will. What we on this side of the House are concerned about is the labour hire loophole, which some companies deliberately use to undercut the agreements that they've already made with their workers. I've met too many workers in such a predicament. This change is terribly important and will mean that workers working side by side will be treated equally. This is really good not only for wages but for cohesive workplaces. It should be welcome change.

We know that some employers, having agreed on fair rates of pay with their workers through an enterprise agreement, unfortunately seek to undermine that agreement by bringing in a labour hire workforce that is being paid less. That's totally against the spirit of workplace democracy that we should prize in this country. This is a loophole that we must close, and we are.

A significant aspect of this bill is that it amends the Fair Work Act 2009 to give powers to the Fair Work Commission to make orders that labour hire employees be paid at least the wages in a host's enterprise agreement. That's just fairness. The loophole that allows employers to use labour hire workers who are paid less than the rates of pay agreed to in a workplace's agreement will be closed, and that's a good thing.

This bill is delivering on our election commitment. This is something that I'm really proud to be able to speak to in the House today.

This has been the subject of wide consultation. There have been over 45 consultation sessions held with employer and union representatives. In this bill, our government is standing up for workers when it comes to casual employment. We're closing the loophole that leaves people classified as casuals, when in practicality they work permanent, regular hours. They may work like permanent employees, but they're not treated in the same way; they don't have the benefits that job security provides. So we're legislating a fair and objective definition to determine when an employee can be classified as casual so they're not stuck as a casual into perpetuity, making it impossible for them to have the kind of security in their life that a permanent job offers. If desired—and it's very important that it's 'if desired'; it's not forced on workers; it is about a choice for people who satisfy the requirements for being classified in this way—it will help more than 850,000 workers who have regular work arrangements but are classified as casuals. It will give them greater access to leave entitlements and financial security. I would have thought that was something that everyone in this House would want workers in this country to be able to have. Surely all of us in this place know that there's nothing casual about the rent falling due or the electricity bills that need to be paid. This is a really important step we can take to make sure that our communities aren't left behind.

No employee, as I mentioned before, will be forced to convert from casual to permanent if they don't want to. For all the commentary we heard from the other side about choice, it remains the case that either they don't understand the legislation or they are wilfully misleading people by suggesting that there's anything other than a choice here when it comes to those pathways to permanent employment. It's really important here, too, to note that eligible employees will have two pathways to change their status: either through the definition-based employee choice pathway or through the existing casual conversion mechanism.

Of course, we've consulted on this part of the bill as well. As the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations stated in this House yesterday, we know that over 40 per cent of the casual workforce are over the age of 35. With this in mind, we mustn't underestimate the meaningful change this will provide to those casual employees who seek a pathway to permanent employment and being able to support their families. It will give them some really critical financial security and the security to set roots down in their communities, which I think is a really important thing for everyone in this country to be able to do.

We're also extending the powers of the Fair Work Commission to include employee-like forms of work as it relates to the gig economy. That's going to make it possible for the Fair Work Commission to make orders for minimum standards for new forms of work, such as gig work, which will allow for better protections for people in new forms of work from exploitation and dangerous working conditions—again, something I would have thought people in this place would agree is a good thing to do.

We're not trying to turn people into employees when they don't want to be employees. We know that a lot of gig workers like the flexibility from using technology, and that's not going to change under the laws. But what we do know is that there is a direct link between low rates of pay and worker safety. That leads to situations where workers take risks so they can get more work because they're struggling to make ends meet. There have unfortunately been some really tragic circumstances involving gig workers that I wouldn't have thought anyone would like to see continue in this country. As the minister has made clear, we can't continue to have a situation where the 21st-century technology of the gig platforms comes with 19th-century conditions. Employee-like workers performing digital platform work such as gig work are often engaged as independent contractors, which means that they don't receive rights and entitlements under the Fair Work Act. We've had multiple inquiries highlighting that these workers receive less pay than they would if they were paid under the award safety net and have no protections if they lose their work unfairly. We're making really important changes here to make sure work is safe and work is fair.

Something that is a very important issue for so many people, particularly young people and migrant workers in our community, is the wage theft epidemic, which those opposite didn't do anything to stop. I'm really proud to say that we're closing the loophole that has allowed for that and we're criminalising wage theft. It's a priority for our government. We know that if a worker steals from the till it's a criminal offence, but in many parts of Australia, if an employer steals from a worker's pay packet, it's not, or there aren't sufficient deterrents to prevent this from taking place.

I've met countless workers who have had their wages stolen. Often these have been young workers and migrant workers—often both. Some of the figures of the underpayment workers have experienced have been eye watering. I've encountered individual workers who have had tens of thousands of dollars of hard work, of wages earned, ripped out of their pockets. It's absolutely appalling. I know that every time stories of wage theft cases are reported in the media, our communities are rightly outraged. It's absolutely time that we made wage theft a crime. Simply, employers who intentionally steal from their workers should face criminal penalties. It took years for those opposite to even acknowledge that there was a problem. They've been well behind our communities on this one, just as they are out of step on a number of other issues—and increasingly so, I must say.

When those opposite did eventually bring in some half-baked proposal, they voted against their own legislation in the Senate. Preposterous! Absolutely preposterous! They tore up their own draft laws because they could not get enough support for their plans to cut workers pay and conditions in other ways. In doing so, they sent a clear signal to wage thieves: 'Keep it up.' It's our government's position that business owners who knowingly withhold wages should face the harshest penalties. That's why this proposal introduces the criminal offence for intentional underpayment of employees wages and certain entitlements and increases the penalty for civil underpayment breaches in line with our election commitments.

We must make sure that our new laws do not water down any wage theft legislation already put in place by the states, such as Victoria and Queensland, who actually had the vision to criminalise wage theft some time ago. We need this national wage theft system to end the rip-offs though. It's really important. It's the right thing to do. We're making workplaces fairer with this bill.

We're doing a number of other things in this bill. We're allowing the Fair Work Commission to set minimum standards for the road transport industry, to continue to implement the Boland review, to introduce an offence for industrial manslaughter with increasing penalties. Every worker should come home safely to their families, and this will ensure this is the case. We're providing better support for first responders, expanding the functions of the Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency to include silica safety and silica related diseases, providing stronger workplace protections for survivors of family and domestic violence, and providing specific protections for delegates and better safety and compliance representation in the workplace.

It's a privilege every day to be a member of parliament, and moments like this, when we get to make changes to improve lives, to save lives, is a reminder of that. I'm really proud to be part of a government that is standing up for what is right and what is fair, and I commend the bill to the House.

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