Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I indicate that Labor will be opposing these amendments. These amendments have given even more ground to the Franchise Council of Australia. These amendments simply do the bidding of the Franchise Council. They would narrow the already-too-narrow scope of the civil liability offence for franchisors, applying only to franchisors who have a significant degree of control over the workplace arrangements of the franchisee. In the amendments on sheet 8204 revised 2, that has even been toughened up to talk about 'material impact'.

All these amendments would do is give franchisors an incentive to arrange their commercial relationships with franchisees so that they can claim to have no oversight of or involvement in the way workers are treated or paid. It goes against all the lessons that we've learnt from the 7-Eleven scandal. If the government supports these amendments, it would be a complete capitulation to Bruce Billson and the Franchise Council. It would be a sell-out of all those workers who are being ripped off by companies like 7-Eleven and Caltex, which we've seen so much evidence of over the last period of time. Some of the most vulnerable workers—migrant workers, low-paid workers—are being ripped off by employers who are part of a franchise organisation that sets the rules for these franchisors. So we take the view that agreeing to this would ensure that 7-Eleven would never be fixed and that we would have more evidence and more examples of 7-Eleven coming through. We are about trying to protect vulnerable workers in this country. We are about trying to protect those that are being exploited by companies like 7-Eleven. On that basis, we will not be supporting these amendments.