Dan Repacholi (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Fairness and equality are fundamental human rights that we must protect and uphold in our society. Those opposite did nothing. When the bill was coming through, not once did those opposite speak about a worker's rights—not once. For me, coming from a worker's rights background, that is disgraceful, absolutely disgraceful, to not speak about it. All they spoke about was how it was going to hurt the bottom end, how it was going to hurt this and how it was going to hurt that. Remember when they said the sky was going to fall in when we gave a $1 pay rise to the lowest-paid workers in Australia? I remember that. The sky didn't fall in. I know that people in my area of the Hunter got to spend more money, got to look after their family, got to do more things together as a family, because they got that $1-an-hour pay rise. If you ask me, that was an amazing we did as an Albanese Labor government.

I've lived and seen firsthand the inequality of labour hire in the workplace. The growing use of labour hire firms by employers has become a scourge, not just in the Hunter but right across Australia. It is a business model that is used by bosses to undercut pay and conditions for workers, and it drives a race to the bottom for employers looking to dodge their responsibilities in their workplace. This is really important reform in order to improve job security, wages and conditions for workers in Australia.

When I was working at Mount Thorley Warkworth—as the minister said earlier, when he gave me a glowing review, and thank you for that too—I worked with Gary, Benny, Yatesy and Adam. Three of us were full-time workers with Rio Tinto and two were casual labour-hire workers getting paid $30,000 less than the three of us in that car crew. We were doing the same job and not getting paid the same pay. We were working exactly the same hours, exactly the same rosters—except the difference was they got no holiday pay, they got no sick pay, they got sent home when it rained. They couldn't call up a safety issue, because they had a carrot dangled in front of them the whole time that they're going to have a permanent job one day. They were told, 'Just do the right thing, keep your nose clean, and you'll get a permanent job.' They couldn't call a run-up when it was wet, when it was unsafe going down those ramps with a 600-tonne truck fully loaded with over-burden at 20 kilometres an hour. They couldn't do things like that in the rain. They couldn't pull them up because they were too scared that they would never get a full-time job and actually get what they deserve, which is holiday pay, sick pay and the same pay as full-time workers working next to them. We took holidays together and we got paid; labour hire guys didn't. We took sick leave and we got paid; labour hire guys didn't.

This bill will have a life-changing impact on workers in the Hunter and in the mining industry all around Australia. This will be such a big, big part of what is going to come, and this Albanese Labor government is the government that has delivered this. I started on this campaign when I first got selected to run as candidate for the Hunter. I was lucky enough to speak to Tony early on in the piece and 'same job, same pay' was something that we spoke about very heavily on the very first day. Same job, same pay—I went to mine site after mine site, talking to contract labour hire workers. I was there at eight o'clock in the morning and I was there at 10 o'clock at night at some of the sites, telling them that we were going to do this.

Now, I'm so proud to be part of an Albanese Labor government that is actually delivering on our commitment. Unlike those opposite, who all say that the worker is no good, that the workers aren't here for the people. Workers are what makes Australia—blue-collar workers, people like me with my background. I'm a blue-collar worker. I left school at 15 to go and become a tradesperson.

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