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

I am not that new! I thank the chamber. I rise to say that Labor supports amendment (6). I would like to follow on from the comments of my colleagues. It was interesting that, when we had the committee down here, one of the best submissions I saw was the submission by the TCFU. Mr Barry Tubner came down from New South Wales. As part of the submission they brought with them some 30 outworkers who would be grossly affected by this bill had this amendment not gone through. Once we heard from these people and saw exactly what they were confronted with, it really did make you appreciate that things are certainly not what they seem.

I make that comment because most of us shop around and get our clothes, and we think clothes are not all that expensive in Australia and we get them cheap. After that submission, I can understand why. One of the witnesses who came and put a submission to us was a lady named Kim. Kim said, through an interpreter, that she considered herself one of the better clothes workers in the outworking industry. Some figures she passed to us showed that she gets paid $3.50 for a shirt, $3 for a long skirt and $2.50 for a plain cotton shirt. Coming from a background of living in thongs, shorts and singlets, it did not really click with me what that actually meant in terms of time—the time put into making these garments. Like I said, she considered herself a very good clothing maker, if that is what I can call them. She said that she cannot complete two garments in an hour. So it did not take long to work out that Kim was working for approximately $3 an hour. The sad part about this is that they are major labels that are in the major clothing stores. It was disgraceful.

To Senator Troeth, Senator Marshall and the rest of the committee’s credit, we found this amendment coming through. I notice that my colleagues have put Senator Troeth up on a pedestal. I would comment on Senator Troeth’s effort too. I tend to think that Senator Marshall was doing a heck of a lot of work behind the scenes, but I would probably liken it to banging his head against a brick wall. Eventually, it does hurt when you find the wall is not going to move. I also note that Senator Troeth is a bit of a snappy dresser. She probably thought that, if we do not look after them, she might not be snappily dressing quite as much!