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

I thank the senator for her question. Let me be very clear that this government has zero tolerance for any exploitation of workers. That includes the underpayment of wages and entitlements by any employer. In fact, we have taken significant action to date to protect vulnerable workers. We've included over $60 million in additional resources and given more powers to the regulator, the Fair Work Ombudsman, as well as increasing penalties against lawbreaking employers by up to tenfold. The increased funding means the Fair Work Ombudsman is better resourced to continue its very important work, recovering 64 per cent more money for workers in 2018-19 compared with those opposite's last full year in office, in 2012-13, and securing more than double the amount of court ordered penalties against employers.

We have also introduced higher penalties, as I said, which are having an impact. The first decision taking into account our new protecting vulnerable workers legislation was handed down by the court in late August. Penalties of over $125,000 against operators of two food outlets in Queensland were imposed.

The Fair Work Ombudsman's firmer stance is also starting to deliver results. The latest data confirms that we've seen double the number of litigations filed and, as I said, a 60 per cent increase in the amount of money recovered for workers by the Fair Work Ombudsman this calendar year to date compared with the last, with almost 20 per cent more employees benefiting from Fair Work Ombudsman recovery action.

Notwithstanding those changes, while we recognise that the majority of employers try to do the right thing by their workers, there are those that do not. There have been some who've been asleep at the wheel and who haven't paid enough attention to ensuring that they're meeting their obligations that they owe their employees, because it seems they tend to prefer—