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

During the election campaign, I would walk around the streets in the Hunter and hear the same stories of mineworkers being ripped off, as I'm sure my good mate, the member for Paterson, hears as well in her electorate. She has a lot of coalminers that work in her electorate as well.

Before I even thought about politics, I worked in the pits. I still have lots of mates that are still working in the mining industry, and I saw workers being ripped off right in front of me with my own two eyes. When I was working at Mount Thorley Warkworth, I worked with Gary, Benny, Yatsey and Adam. Three of us were full-time workers with Rio Tinto and two were casual workers on labour hire, getting paid $30,000 less than the three of us in the car crew. We were doing the same job and not getting paid the same. We were working exactly the same hours and exactly the same rosters. The difference was that they got no holiday pay, they got no sick pay and 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, telling them they'd get a permanent job one day. But that day never came for many of them. Their pay rise never came. They never got the same rights as others.

This is an issue that's personal to me and it's personal to all of us in the Hunter and in Paterson. I made a promise that I would fight for these workers to get the pay and the fair go at work that they deserve. I promised that I would not stop fighting until they got the same pay as the people doing the same job right next to them—same job, same pay. It's what's right and it's what's fair.

I couldn't be happier than to stand here today and say that the workers at the Mount Pleasant mine will no longer have to settle for less than what they deserve. Programmed labour hire mineworkers at the Mount Pleasant mine are getting pay rises of $25,000 a year, with the mine operator offering them permanent shirts. This is the first application for same job, same pay lodged in New South Wales by the mighty Mining and Energy Union. And what a win this was. This is a win for the workers affected. This is a win for the whole community. This is a win for workers rights in general all over Australia.

I visited the site and spoke to the workers. I saw what this means for them and how this will change their lives for the better. One worker said: 'I've been working here for years and rarely taken a day off sick. Because I was labour hire, I didn't have sick leave and I already didn't earn as much as some of the other permanent mates. So calling in sick has never been an option for me.' While the pay rise is great, these changes mean so much more for these workers. This means that they will not only receive the same pay as their workmates but get the same conditions and job security as well. They'll be able to go home at the end of a hard day's work and better support their family, and they'll also be able to have the peace of mind that their job is secure. They will finally have access to things like sick leave and annual leave—things they haven't had for a long time. No longer will anyone at this mine have to work when they're sick, just to make ends meet, because same job, same pay is here and it's making a world of difference already.

Miners work hard. They do long hours, big weeks and shifts at all times of the day and night. For someone to get paid less than their mates next to them for doing the same job is just an absolute insult and an absolute disgrace, and it's just not Australian. It is a wrong that we needed to put right. That's why we introduced the legislation, and now, after too many workers were being rorted for far too long, we are starting to see this wrong put right.

I say thank you to Thiess, who operate the Mount Pleasant mine, for doing the right thing by their employees. It's just a shame they refused entry to see these workers to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and myself. I also want to thank the mighty Mining and Energy Union for standing up for mineworkers in the Hunter and all over Australia. People in this industry rely on you, and this win shows just how much of a difference you make to the lives of your members.

I'd just like to say to the people of the Hunter, of Paterson and of all other coal regions of Australia that, whilst we want to buy our coal, we will always supply them our coal. We're a government that cares about coal workers, that cares about the mining industry and that will always support the mining industry. When you hear those on the other side and those over there in the Independent area as well telling you that Labor doesn't support coalmining, that is a deadset lie. We support coalminers, we support coalminers' families and we support coal. Thank you very much for the hard work you all do, and thank you to for the mighty Mining and Energy Union. Cheers.

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