Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I just want to say a few words in finishing off this take note debate. I want to thank Senator Marielle Smith, Senator Sheldon, Senator Watt and Senator Pratt for their participation in this debate, the observations they have made and the contributions they have made to this take note debate. I would also like to put on the record my appreciation to Senator Ciccone, who hosted and organised the round table that we held about aeroplane arrivals and labour shortages and labour demand in the horticulture sector in Shepparton only last week. I want to put on the record my appreciation for the work that he has done in advocating for migrant workers, exploited workers and, indeed, all Australian workers to have fair wages and conditions.

I began this take note debate making some observations about maths. While it was a perhaps a more lighthearted start to this conversation, the subject is incredibly serious. I do acknowledge Senator Sheldon for his contribution in bringing this home to the seriousness of the problem and some of the devastating maths and some of the devastating numbers that affect exploited workers in Australia. Again, as I said in my remarks, this is not the fair go that we understand Australia to be. The condition of exploited workers, particularly in the horticulture sector, is not something that most Australians would tolerate, as Senator Pratt observed, or find ethical. I do think that the parents of Australia would find it quite concerning if they had information on where the fruit and veg they buy for their families comes from, who picks it and the exploitative conditions under which those people work.

Yesterday the government started the day by accidentally leaking their talking points to the entire press gallery. They finished last night by losing a vote in the Senate on national security legislation. Today they have proved that they cannot answer even basic questions about asylum seekers or about the numbers who are arriving through our airports. Indeed, they can offer no plan for how they are going to address this problem, how they are going to secure our borders or how they are going to protect, as Senator Sheldon said, those people who come to our country to have a positive experience. Nor are they prepared to do much to work with the horticultural sector to ensure a steady and fair supply of workers or do much about lifting wages and conditions across the economy. They seem intent on allowing to develop under their watch an economy that is based on a working population made up of temporary migrants who are paid extremely low wages and subject to exploitative conditions.

Right now we have two million people in Australia who have no path to permanency and no stake in the future of the country. They are locked out of the wages conditions laws that protect the rest of the country. Based on the government's own projections on temporary migration, that is going to increase to three million people. That changes the composition of our country. That changes the composition of our economy. All of us should care very deeply about the path this government is taking us on, because, whether we are here on a visa, whether we are here permanently, whether we are working with good wages and conditions, whether we are struggling, or whether we have children or not, we all have a stake in the future of this country and an economy that is built on people being able to access a living wage, protections at work, safety and fair work conditions. This is really what is at stake here.

Before I wrap up, I would like to acknowledge another maths statistic, and this one is also not very happy. I would ask the indulgence of the chamber in letting me switch subjects slightly. Today is international Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. I know there is a motion before the Senate later tonight, and I acknowledge that it is supported across the crossbench and the government. The depressing statistic about that is that six babies are stillborn every day in Australia. There are 2,200 stillborn babies a year, and that is a number that has not changed in 20 years, despite all of the advances that we have made in this country in terms of maternal health.

I'd like to acknowledge in the public gallery the director of the Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth, Dr Vicki Flenady, and her team, who were here earlier. Earlier today Vicki and her team, with Minister Hunt and Mr Chris Bowen, the shadow minister for health, launched the Safer Baby Bundle. I want to end on a more positive form of maths, and it is this: the Safer Baby Bundle has set a target of reducing the number of preventable stillbirths by 20 per cent. That would mean saving some 200 babies' lives every year in Australia. I am quite hopeful that, with a range of other measures as well, we can surpass that. The Safer Baby Bundle launched today with funding from the government, backed by recommendations of this Senate. This very Senate's stillbirth inquiry is what has led to today's announcement. I am really quite pleased that Vicki is in the chamber today, and I am very delighted that today we launched the Safer Baby Bundle. I thank all members of the Senate, because it was your support for the Senate select committee into stillbirth that made the Safer Baby Bundle possible.

Question agreed to.