Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

In my local community, cost of living is biting. There is no doubt about that. The Albanese government was elected on a commitment to get wages moving. A huge part of that is closing the loopholes that are undermining the pay and conditions of people in my community and communities across our country.

There are four key elements to the legislation, the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023, before us today: cracking down on the labour hire loopholes that are used to undercut pay and conditions; criminalising wage theft; properly defining casual work to make sure that people are not exploited; and making sure that gig workers aren't being ripped off. We're not proposing radical changes; rather, we are making sure that the law works for all Australians.

We want to make sure that there is certainty for business, that there is clarity for the Fair Work Commission and, most importantly, that there is certainty for workers. We want to make sure people are paid properly and that they can make sure that they are protected in the workplace. But we need to make some tweaks. We are standing up for casual workers who want to become permanent employees, making sure that people stuck as casuals, working permanent, regular hours, get a fair go, because working like a permanent employee with no job security and no entitlements is not a fair go.

Closing labour hire loopholes will simply require an employer to pay rates it has already negotiated and agreed to. This will help more than 850,000 casual workers with more job security. We know, particularly in this climate, that rent is not casual, bills aren't casual and groceries aren't casual. So people who are slaving over their monthly budgets at the dinner table shouldn't be treated as casual when they are not. We need to ensure that people have certainty so that they can plan ahead and so that they can plan for their families and their future.

No-one will be forced to become permanent employees if they'd prefer to keep their casual loading and arrangements, but we want to give people that option, simplifying that pathway to permanency. We're concerned about labour hire loopholes, which some companies use to deliberately undercut agreements that they have made with their workers. Specifically, they've agreed on fair rates of pay with their workers and signed on the dotted line of an enterprise agreement but, rather than honouring that commitment they undercut it by bringing in a labour hire workforce that is being paid less, disadvantaging both permanent and labour hire workers.

Key to this proposal is that employees and unions can apply to the Fair Work Commission for an order that labour hire employees be paid at least the wages in a host's enterprise agreement. Exemptions will apply in the cases of small business, and a three-month exemption period will also apply. This will make sure that surge workforces and genuine temporary replacements are not negatively impacted.

We're extending the powers of the Fair Work Commission to include 'employee-like' forms of work to better protect people in new forms of work such as gig work from being exploited and from being put in danger. Again, we're not going to be forcing anyone to become a permanent employee when they don't want that. I know that many people in our community like the flexibility of gig work, like being a DiDi driver or delivering with Uber Eats. But we also want to make sure that people are not put in danger and are not taking unnecessary risks just to get by. There have been some horrific stories of just that.

The Transport Workers Union shared with me Burak's story. Burak was living in Sydney, working as a food delivery driver. He received a food delivery job request at 12.51. At that same moment, he went under a truck. His phone received a reminder about the job at 12.53 as he lay dying. The company he worked for said his family wasn't entitled to any compensation, because he wasn't working at the moment he was killed.

I went to school with Ash, who worked in food delivery as it was taking off in Australia. Ash talks of the massive pressure to deliver as quickly as possible, knowing that every step of the way, from the time he accepted a job, the race into a restaurant, weaving through traffic, he was being monitored. He says he was monitored by an algorithm that put the pressure on to work quicker. He was not managed by people. He received a serious injury when he was racing the clock. Ash says: 'We need to implement these proposed reforms. It'll make a massive difference to gig workers compromising on safety just to get paid.' We won't become a nation where you have to rely on tips to make ends meet. That is un-Australian.

But also, if a worker steals from the till, it's a criminal offence—quite rightly—but in many parts of Australia, including in Western Australia, if an employer intentionally steals from a worker, it's not a crime. Business owners who knowingly withhold wages from employees should face harsh penalties. Unfortunately, wage underpayment is a real issue across the country in large and small companies. Victoria and Queensland criminalised wage theft on a state level after getting sick of waiting for the former coalition government to do it. We need a national wage theft system to end the rip-offs, to make sure wage theft can be properly investigated and to make it officially a crime across the country.

This bill is also about introducing minimum standards for the road transport industry. It sounds cliche, but, without truckies, Australia stops, so we need to make sure the road transport industry is safe, sustainable and viable. I heard one story recently: of JC, a truck driver killed because of the pressure he was under. He got held up on a shift and called in to say that he'd reached his legal limit of hours on the road and he was too tired to keep driving—doing the right thing. He was told that, if he didn't keep going, the company would lose a contract. Twenty-four hours after he started his shift, JC's truck rolled hit a tree and burst into flames. He was killed instantly. In this place, I think we can all agree that these are not stories we should be hearing in Australia in 2023. Safety at work is a right, and penalties for breaching work health and safety duties should be proportionate. That's why we're introducing a new offence of industrial manslaughter in the Work Health and Safety Act and significantly increasing penalties for the existing category 1 offence.

In Western Australia, in particular, we're a state that digs things up and ships them out, but this can't come at the cost of the people who make our economy strong. One death is one too many. The Australian Workers Union, in Western Australia, has been campaigning to improve safety on mining and resources projects. This legislation will go a long way to making sure that this is taken seriously. The Australian Workers Union has also been running a national campaign, for the last couple of years, to properly address silica-related diseases. They have been relentless, and I thank them for their advocacy in this place and the advocacy for those who, devastatingly, are living with silica-related diseases, and their families.

This legislation will also drive the national coordination of actions to address silica-related diseases by extending the functions of the Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency to silica. We need coordinated action in this space to address the alarming rise in the number of workers developing silicosis and other silica-related diseases caused by the inhalation of silica dust.

As a former workplace delegate myself, I am pleased that this legislation before us will implement a Jobs and Skills Summit outcome to improve employee access to representation for safety and compliance issues at work. Delegates have such an important role in assisting their colleagues to understand their rights and entitlements and navigate the workplace. This measure will help safeguard the important work undertaken by delegates by providing specific protections and positive rights for them to perform their roles at work.

Violence doesn't discriminate, and neither should the law. For many years now I've worked alongside Starick Services in my community as they advocate for, support and provide shelter to women and children fleeing domestic violence. Family and domestic violence can affect all aspects of a person's life, including their wellbeing and productivity at work. Part of the legislation before us now brings forward changes to improve protections against discrimination for those encountering family and domestic violence. This legislation will make sure workers are not penalised in any way if they disclose they have been subject to family and domestic violence.

The final element of this bill that I'd like to draw to the attention of the House is an important change to back our first responders. The legislation will implement a presumption that, if a first responder covered by the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act sustains post-traumatic stress disorder, they won't be required to prove their employment significantly contributed to that PTSD for the purposes of their worker's compensation claim. This will include firefighters, Australian Federal Police, ambulance officers and other emergency services. These changes will provide a faster, streamlined claims process that seeks to reduce stress and trauma for first responders when making workers compensation claims.

All of the changes in this legislation will make Australian workplaces safer and fairer by closing the loopholes that exist in the law as it currently stands. It is an absolute travesty that those opposite continue to maintain their opposition to closing loopholes that are so plain on their face.

I commend this bill to the House, and I commend the minister for his tireless work, working with such a broad range of stakeholders, to bring this law forward to close loopholes. It will deliver a better future for all Australians.

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