Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, thank you Senator McAllister. That is exactly the conclusion—it is the only conclusion that I can come to. They do not want them to vote because they fear that they might all vote Labor. But these workers are from across the country, out of all electorates. There are workers from the eastern states—from New South Wales and from Queensland. They are from all over the country; they are not uniquely Western Australian voters and yet every single one of them is denied that opportunity to vote while they are at work because—who knows why?

We have seen that exceptions can be made, so it is time that the Turnbull government, and particularly Senator Brandis, took this matter seriously. Make no mistake: I will be alerting the workers on Barrow Island to the flippant way that Senator Brandis simply dismissed their request to have that opportunity to have a vote in their workplace because of the shift configurations they work. It is a disgraceful way for the Turnbull government to treat workers. I do not know why I am surprised! That is the way that they treat workers generally—just to dismiss them, whether it is about penalty rates or not allowing them to vote. I should not be so surprised that that is the way these workers have been treated. But make no mistake: I will make sure that the video of Senator Brandis basically saying, 'Oh, I haven't had enough time!' is shown to the workforce on Barrow Island. Believe me, this will not be the end of this matter, because I am determined that those workers get that fair opportunity to vote like every other Australian and not to be disenfranchised because of the very long shift configuration patterns that those workers currently operate. Thank you.