Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will quickly reiterate that, when Senator Vanstone was asked a question by Senator George Campbell on the same subject, the response was:

... if the company is doing the wrong thing they will be dealt with ...

I have done some research into what exactly Senator Vanstone means when she says that companies that do the wrong thing will be investigated and ‘dealt with’ in my home state. I learnt that, far from making investigations into allegations of exploitation, the immigration department merely refers such matters to the Western Australian Department of Consumer and Employment Protection for them to investigate at Western Australian taxpayers’ expense. Under the terms of the memorandum of understanding between DIMA and DOCEP it is open to the employer to identify breaches and therefore avoid prosecution. How charitable!

I learnt that in 2004-05 the Western Australian Department of Consumer and Employment Protection conducted 36 investigations at the immigration department’s request into alleged breaches by bosses of their legal obligations to the section 457 guest workers. I also learnt that 28 of the 36 bosses investigated were found to be in breach of one or more matters, including failure to pay appropriate rates of pay, failure to pay penalty and overtime rates of pay, failure to meet annual leave and public holiday entitlements and failure to maintain appropriate time and wages records. The total value of identified underpayments for these 28 breaches was $203,000, with underpayments to individual workers of up to $30,000. One worker was even being forced to work 84 hours per week. But the Howard government has ensured that, if these dodgy bosses quietly fix up the pay, they will avoid prosecution for their crooked actions. So much for being ‘dealt with’. Despite the documented widespread and disgraceful rorting of these vulnerable section 457 guest workers, the Howard government can rightly say:

After thorough investigations of allegations there has not been one single prosecution of an employer in Western Australia for exploiting 457 guest workers.

All of these matters were quietly settled and swept under the carpet so that there is no record of prosecution for any of these 28 crooked actions in Western Australia.

I invite senators to compare the loving and forgiving treatment the Howard government shows to employers who rip off vulnerable 457 guest workers with that given to Mr Mal Peters, from my home state of WA, and his family. Mal Peters acted in defence of a delegate after that delegate in his workplace was sacked. Mr Peters is facing fines of up to $28,000 and stands to lose his family home or even face jail. There is no second chance for Mal Peters and his family. There is no opportunity to quietly fix up matters in order to avoid prosecution. Mal Peters is being dragged through the court by this government, not because he exploited anyone, not because he stole from the pay packets of workers but because he dared to act in defence of his delegate. We see it time and again with this government: the velvet glove for dodgy bosses, and jackboots for the workers. If senators still need evidence of the pig-headed hatred this government has for working people they need only compare the treatment dished out to Mal Peters with the second chances given to crooked employers who exploit 457 guest workers in my state.