Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. What is the Albanese Labor government doing to support workers who need flexible work arrangements, particularly those in low-paid, feminised sectors?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill will bring our workplace laws up to date with the modern expectations of flexible work. Many members on this side, including the member for Gilmore, and some on the crossbench have had arguments in favour of trying to find better pathways for flexible work for a long time.

The way the law works at the moment is that you have a right to request flexible work, but if you make that request of your employer and the employer just says, 'No, I've got business grounds to say no,' that's the end of it. There's no right of appeal. It goes no further. The sorts of issues where flexible work hits are when someone is given a roster change and the impact of that roster change means they will now have a three-year-old whom they cannot pick up from child care. It means massive changes in people's lives if all they can do is ask, which is the only right they have, and are told no. At that moment, the only choice that faces Australians in that position is to give up the job. That's what happens. Inevitably, people then move to more-insecure work and to lower paid work, something which has been supported by the recent Senate inquiry that was chaired by Senator Barbara Pocock. It is something about which there were was a report based on an extraordinary amount of work done in the retail and fast food sector by the SDA. Members on both sides and the crossbench have been briefed on the report. The member for Goldstein, prior to coming here, was very much involved in a lot of that research. The inquiry and report went through the impact that the absence of rights on flexible work was having, particularly and disproportionately on women workers in Australia.

Introducing a right to arbitration won't mean that every one of these cases will go to arbitration. It will mean that where these decisions are being made—often in good companies but by a low level of management—not respecting people's family responsibilities, we will end up with sensible outcomes. It should not be the case that people with less-secure work, very often part-time workers, are in a situation where the only choice in front of them is to give up their job if they want to keep their caring and family responsibilities.

This is within the secure jobs, better pay bill. This is within the bill that those opposite committed to voting against before it had been introduced to the parliament. The bill is designed to get wages moving. If you support flexible workplaces, we need to change these laws so that people faced with these situations don't have to choose between those they love and keeping their job.