Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the bills be now read a second time.

I seek leave to table explanatory memoranda related to the bills.

Leave granted.

I table the explanatory memoranda, and I seek leave to have the second reading speeches incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speeches read as follows—

FAIR WORK LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (SMALL BUSINESS REDUNDANCY EXEMPTION) BILL 2023

The Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Small Business Redundancy Exemption) Bill 2023 (the Bill) closes a loophole currently in law that mean small business doesn't have to pay redundancy to workers, when that business is having to downsize due to insolvency.

The small business redundancy exemption has been a part of the workplace relation laws under the Fair Work Act since 2009.

The thinking was that small businesses could hire workers without worrying about possible future redundancy payments.

To qualify for the exemption, small businesses had to have fewer than 15 staff.

The problem—or the loophole—comes when a larger business becomes a smaller one—usually because they are going out of business—and they end up with less than 15 employees.

So according to this particular loophole these large businesses are now small businesses, and they don't have to pay the remaining staff a redundancy.

That means that these workers who are helping to wind up the business don't get the redundancy they would normally be entitled to

These workers are often the people that have had to stay on, helping to wind up the business—long after their mates have gone.

This a loophole that needs to be closed.

Imagine you're a worker in a large business and you've been there for years—then imagine that you're told you're to be one of the last workers but that you won't be getting a redundancy payment because the large business is now technically a small business.

Workers shouldn't lose their rights to a redundancy payment just because they stay on to help these large business close down

This Bill fixes that because it provides for an exception to the exemption.

Basically—It makes sure that big businesses can't get away with not paying redundancy to the last of their workers—just because they are going out of business.

It is a loophole that needs to be closed now!

According to the Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC) we are s dealing with a spike in corporate insolvencies. In other words large businesses going out of business.

Official date shows that in August this year—918 companies went into external administration for the first time or had a controller appointed.

This was up 32% on last year and up 12% on the previous month.

We know the construction industry is falling on hard times, we have labour shortages issues—supply chain problems—

All working together to create a perfect storm—and creating a wave of insolvencies across the sector.

Everyday Australians are dealing with a cost-of-living crisis, high interest rates and wages that aren't keeping up with inflation.

They're tightening their belts and that's hitting retail, and larger businesses across the board.

This amendment is just common sense and it's an amendment that shouldn't have to wait until next July.

It's not controversial and it's not complicated. It simply protects the redundancy entitlements of those workers who are the last ones out the door.

I commend the Bill to the Senate.

FAIR WORK LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (STRENGTHENING PROTECTIONS AGAINST DISCRIMINATION) BILL 2023

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1 in 6 women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by a current or previous partner since age 15.

In just the past two weeks alone, six women have been killed across Australia as a result of domestic violence.

As a nation, we must do better.

Last year, the Parliament took the decision to introduce 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave.

This recognised that while family and domestic violence is an issue in our society, we all have a duty to support those who experience it.

It also recognised that no person should be made to choose between their job and their safety.

At commencement, this new entitlement became a National Employment Standard, and brought with it all the associated protections, including a protection from discrimination on the basis that a person requires use of that leave entitlement.

However, one thing we should have also done at that time was to ensure that employers cannot discriminate against anyone on the basis that they are being subjected to family and domestic violence, regardless of whether they access the entitlement or not.

Very simply, this Bill would prevent employers from discriminating against people that are being subjected to family and domestic violence by making it a protected attribute under the Fair Work Act 2009.

As frontline services have told us, this measure will complement the new FDV leave entitlement, by ensuring it is placed within a broader culture of non-discrimination against people seeking safety from family and domestic violence.

It will ensure that workers are not discriminated against before they have the opportunity to access leave, and it will alert employers to the need to have robust training for managers on how to navigate discussions on family and domestic violence.

It is a commonsense measure that is long overdue and will undoubtedly help to save lives.

We commend the Bill to the Senate.

FAIR WORK LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (ASBESTOS SAFETY AND ERADICATION AGENCY) BILL 2023

The Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Asbestos and Safety Eradication Agency) Bill 2023 amends the Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency Act 2013 (ASEA Act) to include Silica.

The Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency (ASEA) was set up in 2013 to administer the National Strategic Plan.

The ASEA oversees national actions to improve asbestos awareness and the effective and safe management, removal and disposal of asbestos.

The first recorded Australian case of asbestosis was made in 1933 and the incidence of the disease is still rising even though most of those diagnosed today were exposed to heavy doses of asbestos 50 years ago.

It took nearly 100 years for Australia to create a national agency to deal with Asbestos, we can't wait a minute longer to deal with silica.

Silica is found in things like stone bench tops, concrete, bricks and mortar.

When these materials are cut, crushed, drilled, polished, sawn or ground, they release tiny dust particles.

Silica dust is 100 times smaller than a grain of sand, so tiny that you can't even see it -

But if you're exposed to it—you can get lung cancer, kidney disease and silicosis.

It's estimated that nearly half a million young tradies are exposed to silica dust—with thousands already diagnosed with silicosis.

Like asbestosis, there is no cure for silicosis.

Safe Work Australia, has cut the silica dust exposure limit from 0.1 milligrams per cubic metre over an eight-hour shift to 0.05 milligrams.

But this limit won't come in for three years and it has to be signed off by state and territory governments.

Silica reform is complicated and sits across multiple portfolios and jurisdictions, including silica in the government agency that ASEA's responsibilities helps to fix this problem.

This Bill gives workers the right to safe and healthy workplaces by including silica in the government agency that deals with Asbestos.

This includes eliminating or minimising exposure to dangerous silica dust.

It raises awareness. It improves research.

It means that for the first time we can gather national data.

The Bill also expands the Agency's functions to include a focus on silica safety and coordination, awareness raising, reporting and providing advice to the government on silica safety and silica-related diseases.

It also promotes and helps current efforts to manage the risk of silica and silica related disease in the workplace.

It's estimated that up to half a million tradies have been exposed to silica dust and at least 100,000 of those could die of silicosis.

We don't know the exact number of deaths from this deadly silica dust—because we haven't been tracking the national data.

But a study from 2012 estimated that it has already contributed to over 10,000 deaths a year.

And many of the workers who get silicosis are young people in their 20s and 30s.

Unlike exposure to asbestos which may take many years to present, "acute" silicosis can occur within three years of exposure.

Like asbestosis there is no cure for silicosis, other than a lung transplant.

Despite significant government reports in the 1990's of the growing number of Australians dying of asbestos—it wasn't until the end of 2003 that a complete ban on all forms of asbestos was brought in—it was another ten years after that until Australia got a national agency.

With hundreds of thousands of Australians being exposed to silica dust every year we need to act now.

I commend this bill to the Senate.

FAIR WORK LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (FIRST RESPONDERS) BILL 2023

It's a sad and under-recognised fact that our nation's first responders are more likely to develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than the general population.

Our first responders put themselves in harm's way for the benefit of their communities—our communities. Whether that is police, paramedics, emergency services, emergency services phone operators or firefighters, our first responders risk life and limb to protect us or save us in our hours of greatest need.

They are the first in and the last out, and that comes with specific risks. It brings them in monthly, weekly or sometimes daily contact with violence, death, physical injury and moral injury.

These experiences take a toll.

While a person's response to any traumatic event is individual, we do know these experiences can compound, and for some people it can cause the development of PTSD.

We should not wait for things to go wrong in someone's life before we jump in with support.

We should always be taking a preventive approach, recognising that everyone deserves to be safe at work and to go home to their loved ones after a shift.

Our services have been improving their on-the-job mental health supports and it is hoped that one day we won't see the occupational risks of PTSD that we see today, and that we have been seeing for decades. However, that time has not yet come, and for the moment we have first responders, both current and retired, struggling with PTSD, feeling isolated without the support they need to conquer this insidious illness.

This is where the workers compensation system needs to respond.

Our workers compensation system should be there to support people who have been injured on the job to receive the support, treatment and the assistance they need to get well and transition back to the workforce, where possible.

This needs to happen as quickly as possible, however what we know is that some first responders truly struggle to have their claim accepted by Comcare or by the ACT's self-insurance system.

Many first responders can find themselves on a seemingly never-ending circuit of doctor's appointments and independent medical examinations to achieve the right diagnosis and to ensure that diagnosis is linked to their service.

PTSD cannot always be linked to a single traumatic event; it can compound over time and sometimes it can manifest years after exposure to trauma. Proving that a person's PTSD is related to their job is not always easy and it's not straightforward.

In addition, requiring first responders to relive their traumas by forcing them to attend multiple appointments can add fuel to the fire and cause yet more trauma.

This Bill aims to solve these problems by requiring the insurers of first responders in the Commonwealth and ACT jurisdictions to presume that PTSD was caused by a first responder's job unless the insurer can establish otherwise.

Very simply, it will reverse the onus of proof, taking some of the stress off the shoulders of first responders and allowing them to receive more quickly funding for services that put them on the best possible path to recovery.

It is important to note that this will only apply to first responders employed by the Commonwealth and by the ACT Government. However, it is hoped that this legislation will set a best practice model that will be adopted more widely across the federation.

This has been the case for changes to the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 made in 2022, which established a presumption for a number of cancers known to impact firefighters.

Following passage of those changes through the Parliament, the changes have now also been mirrored in Tasmania.

The changes being made in this Bill should not be seen as the end of the journey in trying to improve the physical and psychosocial safety of first responders. It is just one step.

The good news is that we already have the blueprint for what needs to be done, expressed very clearly through the Senate's 2019 report: The people behind 000: mental health of our first responders.

This includes a review of the use of independent medical examiners by insurers, establishing compulsory management training focussed on mental health in first responder organisations and ensuring adequate mental health supports are extended to all retired first responders.

We also hope that we can answer the call of the first responders that recently travelled approximately 2,800 kilometres around Australia to raise awareness of these issues, by establishing a National First Responder Mental Health Commissioner to better coordinate data collection, policies and research across the country.

There has never been a more important time to focus on the health and the mental health of our first responders.

As the climate changes, as our planet warms and as our risks to natural disasters increase, we will rely on our first responders more than ever to come to our aid in desperate situations.

We know they will be there to answer the call.

We must be there to answer their calls and to do all that is within our power to ensure we look after their physical and mental health while they are serving and after they have retired.

We are pleased to introduce the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (First Responders) Bill 2023 and we commend it to the Senate.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.