Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I present the third interim report of the Select Committee on Job Security on labour hire and contracting. I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

Before I even had an opportunity to table this report in the Senate the Morrison government had already stated its position on labour hire. Last week in question time in the other place Mr Morrison's minister covering industrial relations in the House, Minister Fletcher, said labour hire is 'a made-up issue'. I'm sure many labour hire workers we heard from throughout the inquiry, their families and local community members in Central Queensland, the Hunter and Western Australia—across the country—will feel very disappointed to hear that from their government. But it sums up the attitude of Mr Morrison and the government to the issue.

Over the last eight years there have been absolutely no improvements for those workers. If you're shoved out of your job with a labour hire firm on lower pay as a casual then Mr Morrison and his government don't see any issue at all. They see it as a made-up issue. Here are the facts, as reported in this report. According to the ABS, when the government entered office in 2013 there were 540,622 labour hire workers. In 2019—that's the most recent year data is available for—that number was 797,710. That is a 48 per cent increase in just six years of Liberal governments. No wonder we have wage stagnation. When Minister Fletcher and others in the government get up and say it's a made-up issue they are covering up the extraordinary increase in labour hire in the Australian workforce. Labour hire has a legitimate place where it's used for legitimate surge workforce needs, but does the Morrison government really expect us to believe that there has been a 48 per cent increase in surge workforce needs in six years?

It's insulting to claim that this is a made-up issue. Why is there an explosion in the use of labour hire under this government? Employers, particularly in industries like mining, meat processing, construction and transport, have realised that if you offload your workforce to a labour hire company you aren't really legally required to pay them the same rate as your own employees. In fact, you can replace well-paid permanent jobs with low-paid casual jobs.

The industry that has been hit the hardest by labour hire rorts is the mining industry. Just ask BHP, Australia's largest mining company. BHP admitted to the committee that they have half of their mining workforce nationwide working for labour hire or other contractors. Across their operations that jumps to 71 per cent. So 71 per cent of BHP coalmine workers are not BHP employees. BHP have set up their own sham labour hire company called Operations Services to undercut their own workers. When BHP has outsourced almost all of its own workforce and set up its own sham labour hire firm, how can Minister Fletcher say this is a made-up issue?

The fact is that the Liberal and National parties have abandoned CALD workers. Wayne Goulevitch, a mine worker in Queensland, told us:

I started out like everyone did back in my day, as a labour hire employee … Back then … crews were made up of 40 full-time employees and about five labour hire workers … within 10 years, labour hire had ballooned to about 120 workers while full-time employees remained around 40 … My crew has not had a full-time employee join our team in over seven years.

That's not a made-up issue, is it? It's a 'made' issue. Those are literally comments right from the coalface.

The Minerals Council, the lobby group for mining companies, admitted that, on average, labour hire mine workers are paid 24 per cent less than workers employed by the mining companies. This is a 24 per cent cut for every labour hire worker in Australian mines. With the full cooperation and support of the Liberal and National parties, Anne Baker, who is mayor of the Isaac region up in Central Queensland, told us:

It is our view … that this is nothing short of a pandemic. We talk about a COVID pandemic. We are actually living a casualisation pandemic … there can be absolutely no mistake that this completely undermines the socioeconomic health of our regional and remote communities and is an offensive insult that continues to be allowed to happen …

I'm sure that local Queensland MPs are standing up against labour hire, right? Well, here it is. The member for Dawson, George Christensen, said earlier this year about labour hire: 'The unfortunate answer, for everyone, is nothing can be done.' Well, there you go. The message from the Liberals is it's a made-up issue, and the message from the Nationals is nothing can be done. The message from Labor is that this is a serious issue that needs urgent, urgent attention. Last week, Mr Anthony Albanese, the opposition leader, introduced a 'Same job, same pay' bill.

The committee's first recommendation is that such a law must be passed. The only hurdle in the way is a government that won't even acknowledge there is a problem. Chad Stokes, another coalminer, told us:

I have been in labour hire … for seven years, and there are just no permanent jobs being offered anymore. I work the same roster and shift as the permanent workers on my crew, but I have no job security. I get paid less, and it is really hard to take time off.

Here is an idea for Minister Fletcher, or anyone else who thinks this is a made-up issue: why don't you get out of your bubble and go to Central Queensland or the Hunter or Western Australia and talk to workers like Wayne and Chad who are actually living this every day?

Of course, it isn't just the mining industry. Qantas are the most antiworker company in Australia. Qantas also set up its own internal labour hire company, Qantas Ground Services, to undercut its agreement with its workforce. It was an agreement that Qantas workers negotiated in good faith. Alan Joyce betrayed those workers almost immediately after that agreement was struck. Alan Joyce illegally outsourced more than 2,000 jobs last year, in the middle of a pandemic, while receiving almost $2 billion in public bail-out money to keep those workers in their jobs. It's one of the dirtiest acts of corporate bastardry Australia has ever seen. One of the committee's recommendations makes clear that can never be allowed to happen again.

The final industries I want to talk about are horticulture and meat processing—two industries now mostly staffed by underpaid and overworked temporary migrants employed by shonky labour-hire outfits. Since the report was drafted we've learnt that nine Border Force agents have raided the home of a Christian minister who was helping exploited farm workers near Bundaberg. The search warrant, amongst other things, demanded: 'any correspondence with the High Commissioner of Vanuatu'—in breach of every obligation under the UN Vienna convention. This really sums up the evidence this committee received, that this government is not interested in tackling modern slavery, this government isn't interested in tackling labour hire rorts and this government isn't interested in growing wages or making jobs secure. It's more interested in attacking unions and anyone else who tries to help. It's quite clear that this government needs to read this report and give it proper consideration. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted.