Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

One of the difficulties that we now have in the chamber is that these are broad provisions designed to assist the TCF industry. I may not agree with Senator Xenophon on all issues, but on this issue I do. It is an area where you do need special provisions to ensure that the legislation works effectively. To achieve that, you rebalance the scales. You cannot take what you might consider to be reasonable circumstances and apply them across the board because in this industry we know from long experience, from advice and from being told not only by employees but by the TCF industry unions themselves that employers in this area are not the best. They accept that these types of special powers are required to address some of the circumstances that vulnerable people will find themselves in.

That is the critical issue. It is about whether you accept that those people who are vulnerable in our society, the families that do the outwork—who are trying to do their best to find income and send their kids to school—deserve special measures. Our submission is that they do. We agree with Senator Xenophon that they do. It is about ensuring that they can provide for their families and their kids. It is about ensuring that the income they earn is reasonable for the work they do. In other words, it is a fair go for them too, because we know from long experience that they do not always get a fair go. That is not to condemn all outwork employers, but we know that at the bottom end of that market some very awful practices go on. For those areas we think the powers should be weighted a little bit more towards protection. This measure does not go as far as some might want it to go. What it does do is try to address the circumstances which TCF outworkers might find themselves in and try to bring those back a little and provide some fairness.

It is no wonder that those opposite do not want to support all of the provisions. I suspect they think that some of them go too far and are weighted more towards the employee than the employer. But I think Senator Xenophon has demonstrated in the debate tonight that he understands where the balance lies, and I would ask Senator Fielding to support all of the amendments so that we can achieve a reasonable balance. I understand that you may not want to, but I would ask you to reconsider.