Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The government would of course reject that sort of exploitation of workers, as I said right at the beginning of my first answer. We continue to work with the Fair Work Ombudsman, and encourage and support the Fair Work Ombudsman, in their efforts to address these very serious issues. It is actually worth noting that the point at which the Labor Party left office in 2013 saw the Fair Work Ombudsman's funding cut by 17 per cent and their staffing by 20 per cent. We have increased that, as I said in my answer to the first question. We have increased that to enable the ombudsman to continue to level the playing field, as I said, for law-abiding employers, to ensure that we can take strong action against employers who do exploit their workers, like the example that Senator Sheldon gave.