Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Tonight I want to take a short time in the Senate to talk about cleaners more broadly, and the Commonwealth Cleaning Services Guidelines that apply to them. I will take you back to the Fair Work Ombudsman's report National cleaning services campaign of 2010-11, which revealed that 37 per cent of employers in the cleaning services sector did not comply with workplace laws, 48 per cent underpaid wages, 39 per cent failed to issue payslips or keep accurate records and 12 per cent breached penalty rate rules. Not a good score! This is an industry in which 65 per cent of people employed are 40 years of age and older and 47 per cent are born in countries other than Australia. The cleaning sector is an industry that has some of Australia's lowest paid workers and they are subject to a greater chance of contravention of their workplace rights, with many cleaners afraid to speak up about employers offending their rights at work. That is why, in 2009, the previous government introduced the Cleaning Services Guidelines and signed the Clean Start agreement to make sure that government contracts adhere to workplace laws and to ensure that our cleaners got a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. These guidelines ensured whole-of-government procurement on cleaning contracts was consistent with fair work principles and gave cleaners the certainty and the stability of a minimum hourly base rate of pay for cleaners employed on government contracts.

Before the election, the Prime Minister told the Australian people that 'Workers' pay and conditions are safe with us'. However, as a part of the government's red tape repeal day last year, the Liberals repealed the Commonwealth Cleaning Services Guidelines. When asked about this in the House on 16 June, the Prime Minister made it 'absolutely crystal clear' that his government had not 'reduced the pay of any cleaner full stop, end of story.' That is the refrain. You have heard it before, I suspect. Senator Abetz on the same day stated that 'when the guidelines were removed nobody's pay was cut'. But this is a government that says one thing to the parliament and does the complete opposite to suit themselves.

Since the abolition of the Cleaning Services Guidelines, new contracts entered into by the Commonwealth have seen a reduction in wages for some of Australia's lowest paid workers. The Canberra Times on 25 May reported that cleaners at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had seen a cut in the annual rate of pay of up to $6,000. That is $100 less a week for cleaners in departmental buildings. The Canberra Times on 2 March 2015 reported that contracted cleaners at the Department of Immigration and Border Protection were receiving $2 less per hour than prior to the minister removing the guidelines. The Canberra Times also reported that a letter was sent from the immigration and border protection department cleaners to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Peter Dutton, saying the pay cut 'may not seem like much to you but when you don't earn a lot this really does make a big difference', to which the department coldly replied that 'due to the uncertainty around the removal of the guidelines, the tender of the contract we work for was based on three different pay rates. Unfortunately the department chose to accept a reduced pay rate.'

This is not acceptable when you have the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Government in the Senate saying that cleaners' pay is safe; they will not have reduced pay. These are the lowest paid workers. They work in Parliament House; they work across government. What the department did was to simply say, 'We will just choose the lowest rate which suits us.' Not only did the government guarantee to the parliament that no cleaner's wages on government contracts would be cut; they considered better standards and conditions for low-paid workers as red tape. This is another example of the twisted and out-of-touch priorities of this government.

Cleaners are already doing it tough in the workplace, but they work hard to make a living and to provide for their families. They are people who are incredibly committed and dedicated to their work—especially the cleaners who are employed to clean Parliament House, who require professional cleaning skills and the highest amount of discretion and professionalism.

Many cleaners work two or three jobs just to make ends meet or to give their children a better life and opportunity than they could either afford or have access to themselves. They should be congratulated for the hard work that they do on behalf of their families. They are in many instances second-income earners to support their families. As many cleaners are telling this government, a $2 reduction of their hourly rate may not mean much to the Prime Minister, it may not mean much to Minister Abetz, but it means the difference between whether or not they can afford to pay their overdue bill or put food on the table for their families. But we have a minister in this place and a Prime Minister who are divorced from the human impact of their decisions.

Cleaners are some of Australia's lowest paid workers. They cannot afford to have their pay troubled in the way that this government wants to trouble it, to make it uncertain, to reduce it. This will cause cleaners greater uncertainty about what the next month or the next year will bring for their pay. This is not a future that Australians want to see for cleaners or their families. All that the government contracted cleaners are asking for is certainty when they go to work and a fair deal when it comes to their pay. Senator Abetz and the Prime Minister have not been straight with the parliament on this issue, and they have let cleaners down badly. This is, quite frankly, further evidence that the Australian people simply cannot trust this government on workplace relations.

This is a government that thinks it can get away with cutting penalty rates for workers and bringing back individual agreements that rip away basic standards and conditions. We can see this in the actions that the government is already taking through the Fair Work Amendment Bill 2014. It is another simple attack on workers rights at the workplace. If the bill is passed, it will be a small step on the pathway back to Work Choices under the coalition: stripping the rights of workers and reintroducing unfairness into the workplace. This is a government that pretended to walk away from Work Choices. It is now crabbing its way back to Work Choices any way it can. This is clear from the Fair Work Amendment Bill and it is clear from the so-called red tape removal of guidelines for cleaners. Labor does not stand for that. What we want to see is a future where working Australian families can earn a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. This government simply cannot be trusted when it comes to workers rights.