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

Peter Dutton, the Leader of the Opposition, is coming after truck drivers this election. Last year, 57 truck drivers tragically lost their lives on our roads. Year after year, road transport is the deadliest industry in this country. For almost a decade, the Liberal-National government did nothing to try and stop the carnage and bloodshed on our roads, but, one year ago, the Albanese government passed life-saving transport reform with the support of the largest small-business organisation in Australia, the Transport Workers Union; major road transport employer groups like the Australian Road Transport Industry Organisation and NatRoad; the National Road Freighters Association; and even retailers like Coles and Woolworths. That's how the legislation was passed.

The only groups who were opposed to life-saving road transport reforms were those who profit from that bloodshed: dodgy operators like Aldi and BHP and billionaires like Gina Rinehart. These dodgy outfits don't want to pay truck drivers enough to feed their families or keep their trucks safely maintained. They want to force them to work themselves literally to death. These are the sorts of shonks who bankroll the Liberal and National parties, so, of course, Mr Dutton and all his mates voted against it. Rob Ireland, a truck driver for 20 years, told the Senate last year:

To stay awake on the road, I turned to methamphetamines … eight hours of sleep a week is what I lived on … Once I was awake for 13 days straight … Another time I thought I had run off the highway because I had fallen asleep. I sat bolt upright and grabbed for the gearstick and the steering wheel. My wife grabbed my face and let me know I was in my bed. I dreamt I had fallen asleep …

That's the system that Dutton's opposition voted to maintain.

It's not just truck drivers that he wants to throw under the bus. Nineteen gig workers have died on our roads since 2017 because of the exorbitant demands of their work. Labor reforms are helping them get a safety net for the very first time. The TWU and employer representatives are working through implementing these reforms at the Fair Work Commission. But, if Mr Dutton wins the next election, he will tear it all down and throw truckies and gig workers to the wolves.

Hardworking Aussies in mining, transport, warehousing, meat processing, manufacturing and so many other industries have fought for years to achieve same job, same pay for labour hire. For years, dodgy outfits like Qantas and BHP used labour hire to dodge their workforce agreements and pay people less. We saw hardworking miners, flight attendants and many others being moved to labour hire. They were working alongside direct employees, doing exactly the same job, but getting just half the pay.

One year ago, because of the years of campaigning, Labor passed same job, same pay. Over the last 12 months, we have seen massive pay rises thanks to that rort being closed. Thousands of mine workers in New South Wales, Queensland and elsewhere have seen pay rises of up to $35,000 a year. Meat-processing workers in Queenslanders have had a 42 per cent pay rise. Warehouse workers at Kmart have won pay rises of almost $12 an hour.

As we speak, the Mining and Energy Union is fighting BHP in the Fair Work Commission for the right to have the application of same job, same pay. Brodie Allen, a BHP mine worker in Queensland, told the Senate last year:

I've been … in the industry for seven years. I've been labour hire the entire time, so I go in and do the same job as everybody else, but I'm paid $40,000 less a year to do the exact same thing.

That's a blatant rip-off by the richest company in Australia. The Albanese government has put a stop to that. But Peter Dutton, the Leader of the Opposition, and the rest of his Liberals and Nationals, voted against same job, same pay because his multibillion-dollar paymasters like BHP and Gina Rinehart didn't want their rort to end. We know, if Mr Dutton wins the next election, he's coming after same job, same pay, and he's coming after your wages, just like he's coming after Labor's right to disconnect, which means you'll be working more overtime without pay. And he's coming after dozens of other reforms that Labor has made to grow wages and make jobs more secure. His plan for working families is to have you working longer hours for less wages. Under Mr Dutton, you'll be worse off.

I want to also talk about the Labor landmark reforms to grow wages and make jobs more secure. Those are our reforms for multi-employer bargaining. Fast-food workers, as we speak, are constantly some of the lowest paid employees in Australia, and Macca's employees are the lowest paid of them all. Most of them only receive the minimum award wage because for years McDonald's management has refused to come to the table with the SDA, the shop assistants' union, and Macca's workers and bargain in good faith. That's about to change. The union for retail and fast-food workers, the SDA, has made a landmark application to allow Macca's employees across 14 different franchisees in South Australia to bargain together. If that application is successful, thousands of Macca's workers across South Australia will finally be able to have a say over their pay and conditions and get a well-deserved pay rise. Macca's are opposing the application, of course. They have an awful track record of attacking their employees' rights.

In fact, at the same time Macca's are fighting to stop their workers from bargaining; they are being sued by the SDA in the Federal Court in one of the biggest wage theft cases in Australia's history. As everyone knows, if you're working a shift of four hours or more, you're entitled to a 10-minute break. For years Macca's around the country deliberately denied their employees their legal right to have a break. It's an outrageous rip-off worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Then, on top of that, Macca's supervisors come in 30 minutes early and stay 30 minutes later after their shifts without pay. That's an hour of wage theft on every shift. As one former Macca's supervisor said, 'If I didn't get to work 30 minutes early, I would be called in for a meeting and receive a warning from my manager.'

The world's richest fast-food company thinks it can exploit young Aussies, and guess who wants to help them. Just guess who it is. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Dutton, has committed to repealing the multi-employer bargaining reforms. That will mean every Macca's worker in Australia will be locked into the minimum wage and not a cent more. The only way to stop Mr Dutton, the Hamburgler of Macca's, stopping Macca's workers in Australia getting an increase is to make sure he's not voted in at the next election. Australians will be worse off under Mr Dutton.

While Mr Dutton's recipe for workers in Australia is a pay cut, he's cooking up something much more palatable for billionaire paymasters. He's going to spend as much as $10 billion per year on $20,000 taxpayer subsidised corporate long lunches, golf days—I don't know whether strip clubs are included as well, but it's entertainment, heaven forbid! Remember, the next time you're having a meal with your boss, if Mr Dutton wins the next election, you'll be paying for it. Your taxpayer dollars will be used to pay for your boss's lunch. It goes to show where Dutton's priorities really are—tax breaks for Gina Rinehart's lunches and pay cuts to Aussie workers. You'll be worse off under a Dutton government, and you'll see Gina Rinehart's fun packed party coming to every billionaire through the pay packets of every worker paying for it—$20,000 to turn around and have a fun party at all your expense! That's the future under him—lower wages and fewer rights for the working people, for Australians and for supervisors. Macca's will be happy, because they'll have one more party, all at your expense.