Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak today because, as a Labor senator and as a person who believes in the fundamental principle that workers have a right to choose their representatives and to defend and protect their workplace rights, it is my responsibility to add my name to the chorus of working Australians' voices that oppose this bill. Make no mistake: this bill is bad for workers, it is bad for unions and it is bad for Australia, because, at its heart, this bill is just another Liberal attack on workers and their representatives.

In the first 'ensuring integrity' bill, which was considered and rejected by the 45th Parliament, the Liberals sought to bring in dangerous and extreme measures that were, by design, intended to weaken the union movement. This parliament was right to reject that bill, and we should be rejecting the version in front of us now, because, ultimately, the original bill, with all of its damaging intent, is back, and the Liberals are back to their favourite stomping ground of attacking Australian workers and attacking our unions. This bill, like its predecessor, is draconian, it is antidemocratic and it is unnecessary. Despite its name, this legislation has absolutely nothing to do with ensuring integrity, but everything to do with ideology and opportunism and this government's pathological hatred of unions and the workers that they seek to represent and protect. It's an attack on the union movement, an attack on union officials and an attack on volunteers. It's an attack on Australian workers. It's an attack on freedom of association and it is an attack on democracy itself.

And what will it ensure? It will ensure less safe workplaces. It will ensure more wage and super theft. It will ensure a less effective union movement—more preoccupied with getting its paperwork right than doing the job which has delivered better wages and conditions for workers in Australia for well over a century. This bill will not ensure wage growth for Australian workers and it will do nothing for our economy. In this current economic climate, it beggars belief that the Liberals are prioritising attacking Australian workers over fixing the economy. They are back to pursuing their ideological agenda at the expense of practical industrial relations reforms that would actually improve the lives of working people in Australia.

In recent years we have seen example after example of employers ripping off their workers. There's 7-Eleven, where operators at 11 stores across the country were found to have underpaid and exploited vulnerable workers. Subsequent investigations found that this exploitation was systematic and came from the top. The franchisor had set up the franchising arrangements in such a way that it was impossible for the stores to make a profit unless they underpaid their staff. Another example is Domino's pizza where, in a class-action law suit, the company was accused of underpaying staff for weekend and afterhours work for 4½ years. And then there's Michael Hill jewellers, who are reported to have stolen an unbelievable $25 million from their workforce over a period of six years.

Each of those examples tells us why we need our unions—and they are not the only examples of workers being systematically ripped off across Australia. Across our country, far too many workers are seeing the most basic entitlement from their labour, their pay, under attack. It's happening in industries from transport to manufacturing and from the retail sector to cafes. But this bill won't help those workers. This bill does not seek to go after dodgy employers. It is not about tackling stagnant wages, wage theft of worker exploitation. It's not about the issues that working people are talking about and are worried about. It's not about easing cost-of-living pressures for Australian families. It's about attacking the union movement. It's about attacking Australian workers at a time when they need our support in this place the most.

Countless examples of the real-world problems in our workplaces are provided to us regularly by the Office of the Fair Work Ombudsman, who says that the flood of companies rushing to declare that they have underpaid their workers has become a torrent. Just recently, reports of Woolworths' systematic wage theft of nearly 6,000 employees by as much as $300 million shocked Australia. But this was just one example that, when combined with other cases across the nation, adds up to $40 million in unpaid wages being handed back to Australian workers in the last year alone. This $40 million was taken unfairly from over 17,000 workers, with the workplace watchdog confirming that fast-food restaurants and cafes are a key priority, with a series of high-profile wage theft scandals plaguing the industry in recent years. According to the Fair Work Ombudsman, there have already been 22 separate large underpayments reported this year. These, of course, are just the cases that we know about.

What is clear as day, what we do know, is that these issues aren't a priority for this government. Working Australians and their families aren't a priority for them either. Workers in the sharing economy know this all too well. More and more workers are joining the sharing economy, and while, of course, there are opportunities in this emerging sector, currently there are also far too many workers facing exploitative conditions and unfair sackings. For example, a case recently brought to public attention by the Transport Workers Union was that of a food delivery driver from Adelaide who was allegedly sacked for delivering food 10 minutes late. The existing unfair dismissal laws do not currently apply, because of a workplace structure loophole that sees drivers as contractors and not employees. These workers are not covered by workers compensation laws, unfair dismissal laws or even the minimum wage. These are the kinds of issues that demand action from this parliament, not this antiworkers bill that will threaten the pay and conditions of even more workers.

Debate interrupted.