Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

In prisons in this country, people are being used as slaves, working for little to no pay, all to drive further profits for big companies like Qantas and Bunnings. And governments are on the take from this labour exploitation too.

Modern slavery is a structural feature of the Australian economy as a result of systemic discrimination towards migrants and minority groups. We've heard about how people with working holiday visas, seasonal workers and international students have been subject to serious exploitation in Australia, with visa conditions that tie workers to their employers allowing employers to manipulate workers. This was the subject of an explosive 2015 Four Corners expose that proved that slave-like conditions have been rampant on Australian farms. Migrant workers aren't paid or are significantly underpaid, they're exploited by dodgy labour hire contractors, and many young women are being sexually harassed and forced to perform sexual favours in exchange for work or for visa extensions.

But today I want to talk about the history of colonial slave labour of First Peoples in this country and how this continues within Australian prisons to this day. Governments go to great lengths to hide what goes on in prisons. Prisons are used to disappear and dehumanise people and even exploit people's labour for private profit. In prisons in this country, people are being exploited under slave-like conditions. Each state and territory runs prison industry programs, with private companies paying prisoner workers significantly below the minimum wage, exploiting cheap labour for their private profit. This is a subject that demands our attention, our scrutiny and our action.

Many of you will be surprised to hear that Australia has the highest rate of incarceration in private, for-profit prisons in the world—even higher than the United States, your mates. But it is not just private, for-profit prisons that are exploiting people here; it is also state run prisons. Both private and public prisons have contracts with Australian corporations who are profiting from the use of slave-like labour and wage theft within prisons, exploiting prisoners for financial gain.

It's not straightforward to find out which companies because they're all shamed and hiding. Public institutions and state entities utilise and benefit from prison labour. It's shady stuff. Governments have gone to great lengths to hide which companies are involved, what work people are being made to do and how much, if anything, workers are paid. Governments don't want the people to know that this is even happening. However, piecing together what little information we do have paints a stark picture.

Over 42,000 people are jailed in Australian correctional centres, and many of them are working for as little as $2 an hour. The Australian minimum wage is $21.38 per hour. We know profit-gouging companies like Qantas and Bunnings have been using prison labour for various tasks, from refurbishing passenger headphones—you know the headphones you get on the plane; that's slave labour in prisons—to manufacturing nuts and bolts to put your stuff from Bunnings together. Despite many advocates shining a light on these practices, we still don't have proper transparency, with many companies refusing to confirm their involvement and governments refusing to give up the information.

Qantas—what hypocrites! They have an advertisement filled with black First Nations women singing, while the company hides the fact that First Nations women in prison are working for slave wages, untangling headphones used in flights. Shame! Hypocrisy! This country is no stranger to profiting from the slave labour of First Nations people. Legislation in almost every state and territory facilitated the enslavement of our people, who were subject to near total control of movement, over who they could marry or what jobs they could do. Our wages were stolen, our savings were taken, and our property was seized.

First Nations woman Ruby De Satge, speaking on the Queensland protection act, said:

… if you are sitting down minding your own business, a station manager can come up to you and say, 'I want a couple of blackfellows' … Just like picking up a cat or a dog.

Historians, including Dr Rosalind Kidd and Dr Thalia Anthony, have documented how First Peoples of all ages, including children, were forcibly sent to work, often far away from their home and families, in often horrific conditions. Boys were generally sent to work on pastoral properties, while girls worked as domestic servants. All were exposed to physical and sexual abuse. This government has unfinished business in repaying wages to Aboriginal and South Sea Islander slaves whose unpaid labour allowed big businesses to reap substantial profits and helped maintain the Australian economy through the Great Depression—riding on the backs of blacks. Shame!

Today, it is not just private enterprises reaping the benefits. State governments are complicit in the exploitation, with agencies like the New South Wales corrective services industry generating millions in revenue from prison labour. From building fire trucks and toolboxes to constructing prison cells, the scope of state involvement is extensive and concerning. The Western Australian government runs the Prisoner Employment Program, which offers paid employment to people in minimum-security prisons in sectors such as clothing, food, textiles and furniture for prisons. The private Acacia Prison, run by Serco, partners with private companies and contractors such as metal workshops and wood workshops. Serco has to pay the state government 10 per cent of its revenue from this prison work. Most recently, the company reported paying $110,011 to the Western Australian government, meaning its revenue from the prison labour was more than $1.2 million per year. Clearly they can afford to pay their workers more.

The impact of prison labour extends beyond economic exploitation. It affects the very fabric of our communities. Those in prison contribute to community projects, from maintaining racetracks to refurbishing public housing. But, while on the surface some of these might seem like good causes, that obscures the underlying issue of coerced labour within the prison system. Perhaps most insidious is the lack of accountability and oversight. Requests for data on the extent of prison labour have been repeatedly denied, kept hidden, practised in secrecy and shielding those who profit and enable this industry from accountability.

So what can we do about it? First, we need truth-telling—to talk about it more. We need to demand that companies and governments be transparent about their use of prison labour. Most importantly, we need to remember that everyone deserves to be treated fairly and with respect no matter their circumstances. I am asking that the government urgently refer the prison industry and the corporations known to use prison labour to the Fair Work Commission. This is what my amendment facilitates—that the Anti-Slavery Commissioner has the power to directly refer matters to the Fair Work Commission—and it demands that those who are working in prison are at the very least paid the minimum wage. I also call on the government to release the exact numbers and names of companies that employ prison labour in Australia, information which is currently unknown as requests for the data have been repeatedly denied by your agencies. This is the very least your government can do, and I foreshadow moving my second reading amendment on sheet 2613.