Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023. Our government, the Albanese Labor government, was elected on the commitment to get wages moving. To do that, we do need to close the loopholes that are undermining wages and conditions, and that's exactly what this set of reforms are intended to do and what this bill is all about.

The bill contains four main elements: criminalising wage theft, introducing minimum standards for workers in the gig economy, closing the forced permanent casual-worker loophole and closing the labour hire loophole as well. We announced all of these four policies whilst in opposition and we took all of these to the Australian people at the election in 2022. People were very supportive of this in terms of providing those better conditions for workers.

This legislation is very extensive. It does a number of different things. First of all, it legislates a fair and objective definition of 'casual employee', with a new pathway for eligible employees to change to permanent employment if they wish to do so. It protects bargained wages and enterprise agreements from being undercut by using labour hire workers who are paid less than the minimum rates.

Importantly, it allows the Fair Work Commission to set out fair minimum standards for employee-like workers in the gig economy, introduces a new criminal offence for wage theft which applies to intentional conduct, allows the Fair Work Commission to set fair minimum standard to ensure the road transport industry is safe, sustainable and viable and introduces a new offence of industrial manslaughter in the Work Health and Safety Act. It also extends the functions of the Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency to address silica related diseases. Very importantly, it makes it unlawful to discriminate against an employee that has been or continues to be subjected to family and domestic violence.

All of these changes that are contained within this bill are not radical; they are very, very reasonable changes. All we are doing is making the current law work more effectively. Closing labour hire loopholes will simply require an employer to pay rates that have already been negotiated and agreed to. These are rates of pay that are already set for the work that is being done. Our employee-like reforms simply require workers to have some minimum standards benchmarked against existing award rates when they are working in a way which is similar to employees. Our wage theft reforms will simply strengthen the enforcement of existing rates of pay. Most employers out there don't want to be undercut by those who are doing the wrong thing. There is support for these changes. Our new definition of 'casual employment' will clarify what was always intended with casual work—that is, if you are working regular, predictable hours and you want to be permanent you will have that pathway available to you.

In this bill, the Albanese government is also standing up for casual workers who want to become permanent employees. We're closing the loophole that leaves people classified as casuals when they actually do in fact work permanent, regular hours. That means they work just like permanent employees but don't get any of those benefits of job security currently. We're legislating a fair, objective definition to determine when an employee can be classified as casual, and this will help more than 850,000 casual workers who have regular work arrangements, giving them greater access to leave entitlements and, really importantly, greater financial security. The fact is that household bills aren't casual. That's the reality. Rent isn't casual. Electricity bills aren't casual. School fees aren't casual. They are absolute certainties. But these people in insecure work do not have the same certainty about their hours or their regular income. The fact is that no-one will be forced to convert from casual to permanent employment if they don't want to. Employees should not be stuck as a casual when they are working just like permanent employees but don't receive the benefits of job security or leave entitlements. That's why we brought in this incredibly important change.

We are also closing the labour hire loophole. We know that labour hire has legitimate uses in providing surge and specialist workforces, and that will continue to be the case. But this bill amends the Fair Work Act 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. The bill is delivering on the government's 'same job, same pay' election commitment. The loophole is that the Fair Work Act allows employers to use labour hire workers who are paid less than the rates of pay agreed to in a workplace's enterprise agreement as a way to circumvent the agreed rates of pay. What the government is concerned about is the labour hire loophole which companies deliberately use to undercut the agreements they have already made with their workers. This loophole is simply unacceptable, and that is why we are changing it.

We are also introducing minimum standards for employee-like workers, particularly those in the gig economy. This bill will also extend the powers of the Fair Work Commission to include employee-like forms of work, allowing it to better protect people in new forms of work from exploitation and dangerous working conditions. The bill implements an election commitment to allow the Fair Work Commission to set minimum standards for those employee-like workers, especially those within the gig economy. The bill provides a list of content that minimum standard orders can cover, like payment terms, deductions, insurance and cost recovery. We all know how important it is to address this, particularly when we have seen the growth in the gig economy and many great safety concerns. We have acted on that because we understand how important it is to have these changes there.

Very importantly, this bill makes it unlawful to discriminate against an employee who is or was subject to family and domestic violence. These proposed changes are so incredibly important because they ensure that workers are not penalised in any way if they disclose that they have been subjected to family and domestic violence. It's very important to have this in place for those victims-survivors. On top of this, we saw the government's reforms last year in terms of employees in this country having access to 10 days paid domestic and family violence leave. That indeed is a work entitlement that will save lives, and this change will also save lives. Particularly, on those 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave, this was an issue that many, many people campaigned and advocated for so many years. We were very proud to be delivering that as a Labor government and are equally proud to be delivering these changes to ensure that there isn't any discrimination against employees who are subject to family and domestic violence.

This government, as we have stated many times, is absolutely committed to ending violence against women and children in one generation. We've made that incredibly clear, and we have also had lots of bipartisan support for all of these measures. I know that everyone in this chamber shares that view, with all of us working together to get to that point. We have also had a record investment of $2.3 billion to address gender-based violence. So we do have that whole range of measures, but the aspects in this bill are incredibly important. This proposal is to implement a jobs summit outcome to provide stronger protections against discrimination by including a new protected attribute of 'subjugation to family and domestic violence' in the Fair Work Act. We know family and domestic violence can affect all aspects of a person's life, including their wellbeing and their productivity at work, and they should not be subject to discrimination in the workplace because of what has occurred to them. This proposal will clarify and strengthen protections and assist victims-survivors so as to make available to them these important workplace rights. These amendments will prohibit national system employers taking adverse actions such as termination of employment against employees because of their subjugation to family and domestic violence. So this is a very important provision within the changes of these bills.

Another one that I would like to talk about that is also incredibly important is that our government will make it easier for first responders who develop post-traumatic stress disorder to access workers compensation. We know that first responders suffering from mental health conditions such as PTSD can often find the workers compensation claims process challenging and stressful. It's so vital they get all the support that they need. As part of this bill, affected workers will no longer be required to prove that their job significantly contributed to their PTSD when making a compensation claim. This is referred to as 'presumptive provisions', effectively reversing the onus of proof from the injured worker to the employer. The specific reforms in this bill cover Commonwealth and ACT government first responders, including Australian Federal Police employees, ambulance officers and paramedics. This government will always provide support for and stand alongside the first responders who keep our nation safe. I'm very pleased to be referring to this too; as a former frontline police officer, I know how important it is to have these measures in place and how widely they have been welcomed, to provide that support to our first responders who do an incredible job.

In this bill, the government is particularly taking action to make our trucking industry safer, sustainable and more viable. As part of this bill, the Fair Work Commission will have the power to set fair minimum standards for the road transport industry. Setting standards in the road transport industry will save lives. That is the reality, not just for those in the industry but for all of us who share the roads. That's why these changes are equally important. For too long, we have all heard so many stories of the very deadly impact of the cost-cutting and many of the unrealistic deadlines, which are often placed upon many of those people. We saw that in the very starkly illustrated Senate report Without trucks Australia stops. That's why having this in place will make a major difference—unsustainable business practices and increasing commercial pressures are also threatening the viability of the road transport industry. That's exactly why we're acting and why we do have these very important changes here now. Under our legislation, the Fair Work Commission will have the discretion on what those minimum standards will cover, such as fair payment terms, and must be satisfied that its orders won't adversely impact the viability or competitiveness of road transport contractor workers as well.

We have taken very decisive action across a whole range of measures to provide greater job security, greater conditions and better wages for a whole range of workers, particularly those in the emerging areas such as the gig economy. That is an area we are all very familiar with, and for quite a substantial period of time people have been calling for changes in this area to ensure there's greater security and greater safety. So across a whole range of measures we have acted because we know how important it is to provide that support to workers. And we were elected on that mandate. We were elected on the mandate to get wages moving, to make workplaces fairer for everyday Australians. In conclusion, that's exactly what they've done. I certainly commend the bill to the House.

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