Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to add the Greens' support to this amendment, but I wanted to put a few things on the record first. I will start off with pointing out what has just happened in this place: we have just had a vote on legislation to implement the TPP and, if it weren't for the Labor Party rolling over and selling out Australian workers, it would have been knocked off and would be dead and buried tonight. There were enough members on the crossbench who voted against the second reading vote, but we saw the Labor opposition cross the floor and cuddle up to the Morrison government. They were led by Senator Farrell, who has just spent the last 10 minutes trying to pretend that somehow he's still got some reputation for looking after the workers.

Of course, we know what is going on with this TPP. It is fundamentally undermining the rights of Australian workers right across the country and across professions. It is undermining rights across a number of different trades and industries. We have the Labor Party's supporting unions out begging them not to do this and not to support this legislation. But because of the sheer arrogance of the Labor Party in 2018, who think they are just going to roll on into government, they've said, 'Oh, well. It doesn't matter. Wink-wink, nudge-nudge—we'll try to fix it up later,' although they know that they can't.

No labour market testing is required in the TPP, despite the fact that six countries can bring unlimited numbers of foreign workers into Australia without even checking whether there is an Australian who could do the job. We know that there's very limited protection for those foreign workers, so they're going to be exploited. We know that will push down the conditions of Australian workers. We know that because we've seen it happen. The Labor Party knows that this happens because it is their own supporters and members within the union movement who have been pointing this out, over and over again. It has happened over and over again. Take the China–Australia Free Trade Agreement. Look at the construction industry. The electricians in this country are crying out for proper support from the Labor Party, and they're getting nothing. They get absolutely nothing. They get thrown under the bus by Senator Farrell, thrown under the bus by Mr Shorten—thrown under the bus by the Labor Party.

At least this amendment put forward today by Senator Patrick says that, at the very least, the Labor Party could do something that is—apparently—in their national platform, that is their policy. But we've just heard Senator Farrell say, 'It's not in the national interest.' What on earth is it doing in your national platform? What on earth is it doing in your platform if you think it's not in the national interest? You're talking out both sides of your mouth and you're caught out for it. Absolute, sheer hypocrisy!