Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises the one year anniversary of the Rana Plaza building collapsed in Bangladesh, which killed more than 1,130 people in 2013;

(2) notes the:

(a) existence of the Bangladesh Accord, an independent agreement designed to make all garment factories in Bangladesh safe workplaces; and

(b) Accord has been signed by over 150 apparel corporations from 20 countries in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia, two global trade unions, IndustriALL and UNI Global Union, and numerous Bangladeshi unions; and

(3) calls on the remaining companies in Australia and abroad to sign and adhere to the spirit of the Accord.

On 24 April last year, Rana Plaza, an eight-storey commercial building, collapsed in the Greater Dhaka Area in Bangladesh. The official death toll was 1,130, with approximately 2,515 people injured. I want to raise this tragic event as a matter of public importance, as part of the process of remembering and healing: to show the world has not forgotten and that those who died and those who were injured did not do so in vain. I want to speak to Australians of our obligations, moral and practical, to the people affected and to thousands like them—supporting the work of unionists like Michele O'Neil of the Textile Clothing & Footwear Union of Australia and civil society activists who I stood with at a solemn vigil in Melbourne on the date of the anniversary—a very moving occasion. The Rana Plaza collapse is the largest industrial disaster in history but, sadly, far from the only one in Bangladesh. Oxfam state that 1,800 people have died in factory fires and collapses in Bangladesh in the past 10 years. In this age of globalisation, it seems we have    outsourced danger. It has become trite to acknowledge that some of the biggest, most expensive brands are manufactured in Bangladesh with the employees there earning about $A55 per month. But it is also worth noting that some cheaper brands utilise this labour.

The core issue is not just about how and where our clothes are manufactured, it is about how we treat one another and what price we put on human life. It is hard not to feel powerless sometimes in the face of globalisation and such continued tragedy. After all, how many of us can really say we know the conditions of the factories where our clothes were made? But responsibility lies with all of us to be conscious and ethical consumers. To do this, we need conscious and ethical clothing companies and retailers. Determining if clothing has been made ethically is not, sadly, a straightforward process. Michele O'Neil made this point, saying that Australian companies need to be transparent about their supply chains. So the ABC asked companies for the location of their Bangladeshi suppliers and copies of their audit reports. None were forthcoming. According to Ms O'Neil, it is because these companies employ their own auditors to check their own factories.

However, it would be a mistake to simply boycott clothing made in Bangladesh. Recently, Sumi Abedin was brought to Australia by Oxfam to speak about this issue. Sumi used to work in the Tarzeen garment factory in Bangladesh, which was destroyed by fire, and 112 of her coworkers died in this fire. Padlocked exit doors and barred windows left Sumi with the choice of jumping for her life or dying in the fire. Thankfully, she survived. Sumi's translator and Bangladeshi garment workers' rights activist Kalpona Akter reiterated this sentiment, stating: 'If you boycott, you're just hurting the people you're trying to help. What's happening in Bangladeshi factories is happening in garment markets all over the world: in South-east Asia, China and South America.'

I am pleased that workers' voices are being heard and listened to. It is important that these workers are given the respect and indeed the agency they deserve as human beings. Unfortunately, in Bangladesh today it is almost impossible for workers to have a say about their working conditions directly. According to Human Rights Watch, in April 2012 Aminul Islam, a labour rights activist, was murdered after being arbitrarily detained and tortured by government security forces. His murder remains unsolved. Over a dozen labour rights leaders currently face criminal charges on a variety of spurious grounds. Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, is adamant about the role that organised labour has in ensuring these tragedies no longer occur. Had one or more of the Rana Plaza factories been unionised, workers could have refused to enter the building the day it collapsed. This tragedy shows that the right to organise a union in Bangladesh is not just a matter of fair wages—it's a matter of saving lives.

I acknowledge that some progress has been made. More than 150 global brands and retailers have signed the historic Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh with the Industrial Global Union and UNI Global Union. The accord is a five-year legally binding agreement between international labour organisations, NGOs and retailers engaged in the textile industry to maintain minimum safety standards. Unfortunately, some Australian companies, including Just Group and Best and Less, still refuse to sign. I urge them to do so immediately and stand up for human rights. It just isn't good enough. The accord goes some way to achieving a fairer and more just garment industry but we must do more, as individuals and as a society. This is more than just about how much products cost; this is about the cost to our collective humanity if we forget and do nothing. I choose to remember. I pledge to shop ethically and to do all I can to support workers in Bangladesh to organise collectively as well as to secure living wages and decent health and safety conditions.

Laurie Ferguson (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Representing the biggest concentration of Bangladeshis in this country, I am very mindful of many issues in that country. Whilst it has made monumental gains in regards to its birth rate and is internationally renowned for its educational outcomes, it obviously is faced with a serious climate change issue which was focused upon last week by revelations of the collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet. However, another issue that has come onto the agenda very much in the past year has been the question of industrial safety in the garment industry, which accounts for 80 per cent of Bangladesh's foreign earnings.

The death of 1,100 people as a result of the activities of Sohel Rana—a businessman with significant political contacts who fled to the border and had to be detained by police—was a very serious international focus. I note, however, that despite that focus and despite the fact that companies have signed up to international accords—most particularly European rather than North American—the situation is still very serious. The New York University Centre for Business and Human Rights made this analysis of the situation in Bangladesh quite recently:

The government of Bangladesh lacks the resources, administrative capacity and often the will to protect workers in garment factories. Local industry enjoys outsized influence in the country's politics, which impacts the establishment and enforcement of rigorous registration.

It should be noted that one of the outcomes of the international outrage at the plaza destruction was that, for the first time, workers did not have to have permission from employers to actually join unions.

If we have a look at some of the realities of trying to police this system, we see that, at the end of August, of 1,500 factories only 237 had union representatives. When we talk about union representation, we are not actually talking about a specific union structure on the site—that is any presence at all. In The Guardian of 25 April, Sarah Butler, certainly presented a major expose with regard to that matter. Very recently we have had the situation of Softex and Fame Knitting having to be closed down because of continuing safety issues, similar to what caused this catastrophic collapse in the first place. The comments of Rezwan Seilm, Softex chief executive, typify what we are facing. He said the closure was 'unfair to the workers' and that there were 'serious structural problems', and they continue in other factories—locks on fire exits, lack of sprinkler and fire alarms, chaotic cabling and overladen buildings. That is the reality of the country.

At European behest, organised by the ILO and some international garment companies, we have had improvements with regard to the oversight of these plants. However, the situation continues to be very serious. The previous speaker alluded to the disappearance of one union leader. Recently shots were fired at demonstrators who still have not received the compensation of $645 per person that was promised. Some of them are still to receive it and as late as March and April people were fired upon.

Bangladesh's cabinet has only now had some amendments to a 2005 labour act which, as I said earlier, seriously eroded union authority. Whilst there have been some notable activities by companies such as the Disney Corporation and European operators, it is still alarming to see that Benetton had a factory close down for their Olympus subsidiary, where workers as young as 13 and 16 were working and the conditions were totally unsafe. Once again, we have a very interesting comment from management. Their response to having 13- and 16-year-old workers in unsafe conditions was: 'At least they are not on the streets.'

I agree with mover of this resolution that Australian consumers should be mindful of the realities of Australian companies not signing up to this. Rather than following organisations like Walmart in being resistant. The Just Group and Best and Less, which are leading companies in this country, have failed to act, failed to protect workers and basically they are more concerned with getting product into this country with the exploitation of Bangladeshi workers. I fully agree with the resolution as moved.

Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today in support of the motion. On 24 Apri1 2013 the Rana Plaza in Bangladesh collapsed, killing over 1,130 people and injuring more than 2,000. Sadly, many of the people who were killed or injured were young women. The tragedy highlighted the often appalling and unsafe conditions of textile workers in Bangladesh. It is fair to say that garment retailers around the world share a collective responsibility to make sure that these tragedies cannot happen in the future. They owe it to the families of those who lost their lives to do take concrete actions to ensure this sort of thing cannot happen again. There is price to pay for cheap fashion, and this tragedy reminds us that it is often low-paid and vulnerable workers in some of the poorest countries in the world who pay the price.

The Bangladesh accord is an independent agreement designed to make all garment factories in Bangladesh safe workplaces. Signatories commit to ensuring that factory repairs are carried out and that workers at the factories continue to be paid a salary. The accord is a legally binding agreement that to date covers over 1,700 factories. It has been signed by over 175 apparel corporations from 20 countries in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia; two global trade unions, IndustriALL and UNI; and numerous Bangladeshi unions.

Companies pay a fee based on the volume of product produced in Bangladesh garment factories and the money goes towards establishing a building standard for structural, fire and electrical safety in all garment factories in Bangladesh, as completed in 2014; structural, fire and electrical inspections of all factories covered by the accord; advising and monitoring brands and retailers of the effective implementation of remedial plans; and coordinating worker training programs, including health and safety committees and worker complaints mechanisms. More than 550 factories have been inspected already and the accord is well on its way to achieving its goal of 1,500 factory inspections by September 2014.

Australian companies who have signed the agreement include the Cotton On Group, Forever New, K-Mart Australia, Pacific Brands, Pretty Girl Fashion Group Pty Ltd, Speciality Fashions Australia, Target Australia and Woolworths Australia. I want to commend those companies for supporting the accord and for supporting the people who work in the factories.

Significantly, though, there are still a number of major garment retailers in Australia who are yet to sign the accord. Best and Less and the Just Group—which operates stores including Just Jeans, Jacqui E, Jay Jays, Portmans, Peter Alexander, Dotti and Smiggle—are yet to sign. I call on those Australian companies and those internationally who are yet to sign the accord to support this important agreement, to move to ensure that everybody who works to make their products is paid a living wage and is free to join a union and to collectively bargain in the workplace. We know that freedom of association is a human right that should be shared across the world, not just in rich countries.

In light of all of this, it is extremely disappointing that the Abbott government has decided to cut all funding to Ethical Clothing Australia. I note that there is no speaker from the Abbott government in support of this motion today, which is regrettable. Ethical Clothing Australia has played an invaluable role in ensuring that home workers in Australia's garment industry are afforded fair and decent pay and conditions. Cutting this funding is just another demonstration of the government's attack on fairness and decency—a full-frontal attack on hardworking Australians and their families in which the list of punitive measures is breathtaking.

This budget does not just attack programs to support ethical clothing; the budget attacks the Australian way of life more generally. We have seen the introduction of the $7 GP tax that is going to fundamentally undermine Medicare. I might add it is a GP tax that I talked about during the Griffith by-election, and everyone from the Prime Minister to the foreign minister to my Liberal opponent wandered around town saying that Labor was just scaremongering about the GP tax. That is obviously not true. We have seen in this budget the introduction of that GP tax.

We are also seeing cuts to the indexation of the pension and disability support payments, an increase in the pension age, the petrol tax, the $80 billion cuts to health and education, cuts to family payments, and cuts to the ABC and the SBS, despite the promise not to make any cuts. There are cuts to Indigenous affairs programs, an increase in the interest payable on student loans and, of course, the increase in fees for university courses. The list goes on when it comes to what this government has cut in its budget. At a time when around the world companies are signing up in support of fairness and decency, we have a government that is breaking its contract of fairness and decency with the Australian people.

Debate adjourned.

Sitting suspended from 13 : 23 to 16 : 03