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

'Serfdom' might be a harsh term, but what's more harsh than taking the penalty rates away from workers, where they can't pay their bills, where they can't put food on the table and where they can't put shoes on their kids' feet? That's pretty harsh as well. Forcing a worker into an unfair bargaining situation is also pretty harsh. So we've seen it all from those opposite. And they say they're acting in good faith. Well, it's taken them four years to deal with this. They've had plenty of time to deal with it. We've had 7-Eleven, we've had Caltex, we've had migrant workers being ripped off and we've seen the rise of criminal gangs in regional and rural Australia taking payments off migrant workers on temporary visas. We have had many examples of workers being put in a terrible situation with this. So, yes, we've listened to the concerns of small business, we've listened to your concerns and we've made the amendments. I just have a more critical analysis, I would hope, of the coalition's good faith on issues than maybe others in this place do.