Mary Doyle (Aston, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As I was saying last night, these workers deserve minimum standards. That is the role of this parliament and what this bill does. It's modernising our laws to reflect the changing nature of work and saying to a predominantly migrant workforce or a group of workers who might be here studying or on another visa arrangement, 'You, too, are workers, and you have minimum rights.' In my part of the world, a lot of these workers can be parents that are picking up extra money to help pay the bills. They are not the demographic that you sometimes assume when it comes to your Uber Eats delivery driver and so on. But there is quite often a very quick turnover in these roles because they realise how exploitative they are. This bill says that those workers deserve a minimum standard; they deserve a minimum rate.

If those opposite want to come in here and defend loopholes, defend undercutting workers, defend criminal responsibility and oppose increases in the minimum wage, then let them. However, the hardworking people who have made our country everything it is know that we on this side of the House proudly stand by our record on industrial relations reform. If those opposite want to sit there and push back ideas that help protect workers—real, hardworking Australians—instead of doing something for them—maybe even actively contributing to the ideas we put forward at the last election—then they will enjoy being consigned to history as a footnote, because that is where we shall find them.

We proudly stand by the fact that every hard-fought-for gain in workplaces for the pay and conditions of Australian workers was led by the trade union movement in partnership with the Australian Labor Party. This legislation underpins the Albanese Labor government's commitment to continuing our mission to enshrine in industrial relations policy safe and fair working conditions and practices. This bill puts flexibility, security and fairness at the centre of industrial relations policy. It closes loopholes that exploit workers, and it recognises and supports the vast number of businesses that are doing the right thing and valuing their workers.

I commend this bill to the House, and I urge all in this parliament to support it because this bill supports all working Australians and they deserve to be looked after.

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