Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Hansard source

EN (—) (): In rising to support the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023, I want to have a conversation with the Australian people about why I think this is legislation worth supporting. I'll start with some history, because it's always important to understand where we have been to understand where we're going. Down at the Trades Hall in Victoria, at the top of Lygon Street, just opposite there is a statue with the numbers '888' sitting atop a granite base. These numbers hold up a gilt sphere that represents the globe, the world. On the plinth is a plaque. On the plaque is an inscription:

Eight hours to sleep

Eight bob a day

A fair day's work for a fair day's pay.

They're the words from the anthem of the eight-hour movement, which fought for reduced hours for workers as far back as the second half of the 19th century.

In the 1850s, the striking stonemasons in Melbourne ignited protests across the colony of Victoria and the other Australian colonies over unreasonable hours. They put three main arguments for an eight-hour day. The first: Australia's harsh climate demanded reduced hours. The second: labourers needed time to develop their social and moral condition through education. The third: workers would be better parents, partners and citizens if they were allowed adequate leisure time. Perspiration, aspiration and inspiration—the catalyst for the first laws to protect working people across the world.

With the advent of the eight-hour day, Australia became one of the most progressive labour environments in the world, a new frontier for a new world. Upon fair labour conditions, we established the foundations for a robust middle class. We've done so time and time again with laws that give people a fair go at work: workers' compensation, annual leave, shorter hours, equal pay for women, compulsory superannuation and Medicare which didn't need to be funded out of employers' pockets. But we're losing that edge. The great Australian dream of a large, successful middle class is diminishing into the bleaker reality of a two-speed society of haves and have-nots. Time and time again across the history of this country successive conservative governments have persistently chipped away at the fair go at work. Successive coalition governments did something that was inherently unfair: thwarting wages growth. They even admitted during the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison years that it was a deliberate design feature of their economic management. Well, no more.

Productive workplace relations are built on the values of a fair go for all. Coincidentally, these are Labor values too. The Albanese Labor government doesn't believe it is fair that the lowest paid Australians should bear the brunt of the current global economic circumstances. We were elected on a promise to get wages moving. Our next set of workplace relations reform to parliament, the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023, builds on the secure jobs, better pay bill that passed both houses of parliament last year. It will close loopholes that allow some, a minority of opportunistic businesses, to undermine job security and fair pay in Australian workplaces.

The loopholes bill has four elements. Much of this policy is not news. I should know; I took it to two federal elections in 2016 and 2019. The first element is to crack down on the labour hire loophole that's used to undercut pay and conditions. Labour hire has legitimate uses. It can provide much-needed surge and specialist workforces, and that will continue to be the case. But some companies bring in a labour hire workforce that is paid less in order to deliberately undercut existing fair rates of pay which have been negotiated in good faith.

The second element of the bill is criminalising wage theft. If an employee steals from the till, it's a criminal offence—fair enough. Stealing is a crime. But why is it not a crime when an employer intentionally steals money from a worker? We want to close that loophole and legislate to criminalise wage theft. To be clear, these laws will only apply to intentional cases of wage theft. Quite often, underpayments are not intentional. Our award system is complex. They can be just an honest mistake. The Fair Work Ombudsman will assist in educating employers on their responsibilities. There are pathways available for employers who self-report and take reasonable steps to repay the correct amount. We are not after the honest mistake. We're looking to stop deliberate, greedy, unethical behaviour.

The third element of the bill is aimed at preventing the exploitation of casuals. There are currently people who work permanent, regular hours just like permanent employees but don't get the benefits of job security. They are stuck classified as casuals. Just as there is a gender pay gap, there is a gender security gap. Women make up the majority of casual workers in Australia. Women make up the majority of workers who have been casual for more than two years. Women make up the majority of underemployed casuals. Women make up the majority of people holding multiple jobs. Women will be the major beneficiaries of the fairer workplace that the closing loopholes bill will create. People in insecure work just don't have the same certainty about their hours or their income. Yes, some people choose that lifestyle, but let's not pretend that we live in some sort of conservative utopia where every casual doesn't want to be permanent. That's not true. The bills that pile up on the kitchen table—the rent, the electricity, the internet, the phone, the insurance, the rego—keep coming even if your pay doesn't. We will legislate a fair, objective definition to determine when an employee can be classified as casual so that casual workers with regular work arrangements can get greater access to leave entitlements and more financial security—if that is what they want. We know that many casuals don't seek to take this up, particularly those who don't have the pressure of paying for the family's households expenses, but 40 per cent of casuals over the age of 35 are more likely to want a secure job. Let me be clear: no-one will be forced to convert from casual to permanent. This bill will give people choice.

The fourth and final element of the bill is to make sure that gig workers don't get ripped off. We know there is a direct link between low rates of pay and safety in place for the gig economy. We cannot deal with the safety issues until we have minimum rates and minimum standards. The government simply wants to legislate minimum standards of pay and safety. As Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, I'm particularly interested in the proposed changes which will go to the responsibility to maintain minimum standards for disability care and support workers. Adhering to minimum standards not only builds a quality workforce and secure workforces but ultimately delivers higher quality, safer services for people with disability. I hear daily from participants and their families about the need for high-quality services, but participants and families should not have to choose between flexibility on the one hand and quality on the other. Many who choose this type of work value its flexibility. There's no intention of turning gig workers into employees, but just because someone chooses gig work shouldn't mean they end up being paid less than they would as an employee. We don't want to get to the destination other countries have, where workers rely on tips to make ends meet and we subsist on a two-class working system in this country.

There's been extensive consultation on the design of these measures. Business groups, unions and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations led two processes where some 160 organisations made more than 220 written submissions. The government's asked for feedback, and the minister's listened. Australians who need support and a fair go right now are not executives wondering if their bonus will be $2 million or $3 million this year. It's the people who wonder if their pay packet will cover their bills this week. The closing loopholes bill will put an estimated $9 billion into the pockets of workers who are currently being underpaid. This $9 billion represents less than one-tenth of one per cent of the national wages budget. It is a small percentage because most businesses do the right thing. They don't use the loopholes as a business model. For those workers being significantly underpaid, getting a fair day's pay for a fair day's work will be life changing.

To clarify, the money in additional wages does not come at a cost to the economy. None of this money comes to the government; it will go back to local communities. Low-paid workers tend to spend every dollar they get, which generates economic activity in the high streets of Australia's suburbs and towns. If we don't pass this bill, we will cement in a section of the workforce as a permanent underclass in Australia without any minimum standards—a whole section of Australian workers at the mercy of businesses who use loopholes to intentionally underpay them. That section of the workforce is made up of Australians who are just trying to make ends meet, meaning they're forced to keep working multiple jobs and to take risks with their safety to make that extra delivery. These are people who feel powerless to speak up because they know there's always someone else prepared to take lower pay in a race to the bottom. It's bad for Australians. It's bad for Australian businesses paying fair wages. Why should an Australian business be undercut by another business using an unethical business model?

Here is a dose of reality to those who sit in this place and think things can't be that bad for Australians being paid less than their worth. Have you ever had to swallow your pride and ask for an extension on the due date of a power bill? Have you had to go to the Catholic school and say, 'I can't pay the school fees for my kids this month'? Have you ever had to disappoint your children because you don't have that extra money for them to be able to take the camping trip with the school? Have you ever had to call upon the generosity of family and friends to mind your kids just because you cannot afford a babysitter or child care? Have you ever had to think about whether or not this is a pay week or counted down the days in a fortnight to that period of time when you get paid? If this is news to you then speak to someone who has. They're the Australians the Albanese Labor government is focused on with the closing loopholes bill.

Make no mistake: a loophole is not innocuous or trivial. My curiosity about the term 'loophole' led to me to understand why it has negative connotations. It comes from describing the narrow slits in the castle walls of medieval Europe through which projectiles can be launched at enemies without fear of similar objects making their way back through the slits. It was considered an unfair advantage unless you owned the castle. Some businesses in Australia are using loopholes in the law to exploit their unfair advantage and unethical approach to business, safe in the knowledge that the workers have no way of fighting back—well, no more. The Labor government has a way to stand up for people who don't have a voice. It's called the closing loopholes bill. Its goal is to ensure that good, hardworking Australians who do a fair day's work will earn a fair day's pay.

Finally, I want to address the falsity that somehow paying a low-paid worker a few more cents an hour and giving them some minimum rights so that they avoid being exploited will somehow trigger inflation. The reality is that this country has been experiencing supply-side causes of inflation, be it insufficient investment in energy, supply chain challenges overseas or the criminal and illegal war in Ukraine. But we have also seen some of the big food corporations, like Woolies and Coles, who've used the fog of supply-side inflation to camouflage rent-seeking behaviour. We're legislating for those people who shop in their shops. The strange thing is I hear the opposition always complain about a wage rise for a worker but never about the 'greedflation' of big corporations burdening the lives of all Australians. It perhaps make you realise where some people's priorities are.

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