Jana Stewart (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Albanese Labor government is supporting Australian workers by closing loopholes that undercut pay and conditions. This is core Labor business: being in the corner of workers, unlike those opposite. We were elected on a pledge to get wages moving again after a decade when those opposite had a deliberate design feature of keeping wages low. Last year's secure jobs, better pay legislation was about raising the floor, to improve working conditions and get wages moving again. This reached into every workplace in the country.

The IR legislation introduced into the House is about closing loopholes that undercut pay and conditions for workers. Most workers will be unaffected by what happens this year, but, for those who are affected, this will be life changing. I'm not sure why those opposite don't want to close these loopholes. Why wouldn't you want to put wages in the pockets of workers? Why would you not want to stop employers from stealing from their employees? It is a crime for workers to take money out of the till. It should be a crime for employers to take money out of their employees' pay packets.

While the scare campaign has started on the other side already, when the bill has only just been introduced into the House, I want to step through just a couple of facts about what this legislation is about. The first is about the labour hire loophole. There are some times when labour hire has legitimate uses in providing surge and specialist workforces. That's absolutely the case, and that should continue. What we're concerned about is the labour hire loophole which companies deliberately use in order to undercut agreements they've already made with their workers. This is where they've agreed to fair rates of pay for their workers, which might be up here, in an enterprise agreement, and then they undercut that agreement by bringing in labour hire workforces that are paid less. That is an unacceptable loophole we have in this country, and we are closing it with this legislation.

We're standing up for casual workers who want to become permanent employees. As part of the government's next set of workplace reforms, we will close the loophole that leaves people stuck classified as casuals when they actually work permanent regular hours. That means they work just like permanent employees but don't get any of the benefits of job security. We will legislate a fair, objective definition to determine when an employee can be classified as a casual. This will help casual workers who have regular work arrangements, giving them greater access to leave entitlements and more financial security if desired. No-one will be forced to convert from casual to permanent if they don't want to. This will absolutely be a choice of the worker.

We're protecting gig workers. We will protect gig workers in the economy by ensuring minimum standards of pay and safety. We know there is a direct link between low rates of pay and safety, but we can't deal with these safety issues until we have properly sorted-out minimum rates and standards in place for the gig economy. I feel like that's just a bit of a no-brainer. We won't be turning gig workers into employees. We know that many gig workers value the flexibility that comes with that type of work. But just because someone is working in the gig economy shouldn't mean that they end up being paid less than they would if they were an employee. Australia is a country where you shouldn't have to rely on tips to make ends meet. I'm sure that's something that we should actually all able to get behind.

Then there is wage theft. We currently have a situation where, if an employee steals money from the till, it's a criminal offence, as it should be, but, if an employer steals money from the worker, it is not. That's a straight-out loophole. This year, the Albanese Labor government will legislate to criminalise wage theft, closing that loophole. The previous coalition government had nine years to act, and they failed to do so.

On this side of the chamber, we will always make sure that we stand up for working people. We want to make sure that we get wages moving again and improve the productivity of our economy. The IR legislation that was introduced into the House will do just that. Make no mistake—Labor will always be on the side of workers.