Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A few weeks ago there was a big protest in Melbourne followed by a protest in Bendigo. It was in relation to the Lend Lease building of the new Bendigo hospital, which is a $630 million infrastructure project in my part of the world. It is a project that we are all excited by.

When the state government first announced that they would be building the hospital in Bendigo there was a lot of hope for local tradies, there was a lot of hope for our local construction industry. A few were disappointed when the first contracts, subcontracted by Lend Lease, went to a Melbourne based firm. Plasterers and carpenters in Bendigo missed out on work because of that decision by Lend Lease. What we have since learnt is that that particular subcontractor of Lend Lease has gone into receivership owing hundreds of thousands of dollars to their workers—workers who are unpaid.

We have known for a while that these workers were being bused up or driven up from Melbourne. They live in their suburbs and they are predominantly Chinese migrant workers working in Bendigo. That did create friction in our town because there were lots of local tradies that missed out on that work. What we have since learnt is that those migrant workers had been ripped off. They had not been paid by their company before it went into receivership. That is why there was a protest out the front of Lend Lease a few weeks ago demanding that Lend Lease step in and clean up this mess and make sure that these workers got paid. We also know that some workers completely disappeared from the site—people here on temporary work visas—and nobody knows what has happened to those workers or whether they got paid.

The good news is that, after the public pressure, after the campaign, after the protests, Lend Lease did the right thing and paid those workers, but it should not come to this. Australian workers should not have to protest to get paid. Companies like Lend Lease should do the right thing and in the first place contract to subcontractors who will pay them properly, contract to people who have a standard and who have a relationship with their workers that they pay properly. Australian workers should not have to take to the streets to be paid for doing work.

Small businesses in my part of the world, who are also caught up in the fiasco, should not have to speak to the local media about getting their contracts paid. The good news is that, with some of those small businesses in my part of the world, Lend Lease has done the right thing and paid the invoices, so they will not miss out on money that is owed to them.

It should not come to this. Lend Lease and this government need to ensure that when people work they get paid. They need to do everything they can. People should not have to take to the streets to simply get their pay cheque.