Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For 2,000 aviation workers, 2020 just got a whole lot harder. Less than a month out from Christmas, these workers were told by recorded message that they were being made redundant. The decision by Qantas to outsource all of its ground crew operations at our major airports and to sack 2,000 of its workers last week is, frankly, symptomatic of everything that is wrong with the Morrison government's approach to economic recovery. As we get back into the air, we are still going to need baggage handlers, ground crew and aircraft cleaners. Some of the workers who lost their jobs this week might even be able to pick up a job at the companies taking over the work—although older workers, of course, will struggle to compete with those who can attract the Morrison government's youth wage subsidy. But those lucky enough to get work in any new company will be working for lower wages, with fewer conditions and with less job security.

For families, this has been absolutely devastating. Many of these workers have been loyal employees for years, some working at the same company for over three decades. Now, as the toughest year of many of our lives comes to an end, they are left wondering how they will pay energy or electricity bills, keep a roof over their heads and put presents under the Christmas tree. Still, despite the personal toll, when I meet with these workers, they spend less time talking about themselves and more time worrying about others. They realise that, if this can happen to them, it can happen to anyone. When these workers came to Parliament House last week, one of them stood in front of the assembled media and asked: 'How do I explain to my three girls that it's not whether you do a good job or not; it's just that they can bring someone else in and do it cheaper than you? How do you teach your kids that?' It's a question none of us can answer. We tell our kids to work hard, to do their best and to believe that they'll be rewarded with stable jobs and a good income. These workers now know that that is simply not true.

These aren't the only aviation workers who were forced this year to realise that the truths that they took for granted were not truths at all. Dnata workers used to work for Qantas until a previous outsourcing decision saw their operations sold to a foreign company. These workers work in the same airports, they are paid in the same currency and they contribute to Australian taxes. All that changed was the nationality of the owner they will never meet. But when it came to the government's JobKeeper program the nationality of that owner was enough to see them denied $1,500 a fortnight in government support and laid off without pay. That was because of this government's decision. Thousands have lost their jobs as a result. They joined a third of Virgin's workforce who also lost their jobs this year, not to mention the many aviation workers at our regional airports across the country who were left out of government support.

These workers know that it isn't only the aviation sector where people are hurting. There is no workplace secure from the threat of casualisation and insecurity under this government. Aviation workers worry about themselves, but they worry more about what this will mean for their children. They don't want to see their kids risking their lives in the gig economy, juggling multiple jobs or working irregular hours without access to paid sick leave. They want to see their kids work hard and be rewarded with a good life.

If we've learned anything from this pandemic, it is that too many Australians are in insecure work. Entering this pandemic, around 37 per cent of workers had no sick leave entitlements. It was this insecure work which helped spread the virus as people were forced to choose between going to work sick or losing a roof over their heads. And some worked in hotel quarantine across more than one worksite because they had no choice, leaving us all vulnerable to the pandemic's spread. As we emerge from this crisis, the lesson we must learn is that secure work is the key to our community and our prosperity.

Instead this government stood by as 2,000 workers at Qantas were last week told not that their jobs didn't exist anymore but that Qantas management had decided they were going to outsource their work. This race to the bottom that we are seeing in sector after sector is an endemic problem in this community, and it is endemic because of the policies of this government which allow these things to happen. It can't continue. If Australia is to have a comeback worthy of the name then we need to do much, much better than this.