Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Acting Prime Minister. Does the Acting Prime Minister agree that no adult worker should be paid less than the minimum wage?

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I said in my previous answer, we are operating under the same conditions for wages, for industrial relations, as were established by the then Labor government. The government's record—and I appreciate that the member didn't mention this in his question—regarding worker exploitation and wage underpayment: we have zero tolerance for any exploitation of workers. That includes the underpayment of wages and entitlements by any employer. We have zero tolerance, and the government has taken unprecedented action to protect vulnerable workers.

Since 2016 we have committed more than $160 million in new funding to the Fair Work Ombudsman, have strengthened the Fair Work Ombudsman's investigative powers to compel witnesses to provide evidence and have increased penalties for worker exploitation up to 10-fold. People who work should be paid a fair and decent wage. That is why a decision was made this week to do just that. That is why Australia has the highest minimum wage in the world, and we should be proud of that—and it's gone up. The government has introduced reforms to protect employees' superannuation, to address the black economy, to target legal phoenixing activity. We recognise that many employers—most employers—are doing the right thing by their workers; indeed, they are. However, some businesses are still not paying enough attention or are having difficulty navigating what is sometimes a complex system. But we will not stand for any exploitation of workers—workers who are being used and abused and not being paid the right amount.