Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have obviously just returned from the winter recess, and I know that many senators took the opportunity to visit their duty electorates over that period of time. I certainly spent quite a lot of time over the winter recess in Central Queensland, an area I have come to know well and love very much for the opportunities and the character of the people who live there. Unfortunately, there is one downside of living in Central Queensland at the moment, and it faces many Central Queenslanders. I have spoken about it here before, and it is what can only be described as the epidemic of casualisation and contract work that we are seeing right across Central Queensland. It's most visible in the mining industry, but it is actually affecting more and more workplaces, industries, workers and communities, no matter where they live or what kind of industries they work in—and, unfortunately, we're not seeing very much action from the Turnbull government to address this epidemic.

From the stories I was hearing while spending time in Central Queensland, whether it be Rockhampton or mining towns in the Bowen Basin, casualisation has got so bad that you have people employed as casuals or contractors or in labour hire arrangements—any form of insecure, short-term work—working in those roles for so long that they qualify for long service leave under legislation in the coal industry, but they can't even get a day's paid sick leave or annual leave. We were hearing stories about people who've worked as casuals or contractors or in labour hire arrangements for up to 15 years. Everyone accepts that labour hire has a role in the economy, particularly to support employers who are looking for a short-term influx of workers to deal with some sort of a peak in their work, but that is being abused by more and more employers across Central Queensland who are keeping people on these short-term arrangements for very long periods of time and denying them the benefits that come with permanent employment.

We also heard stories of people who, because they don't qualify for sick leave—being employed as a casual or through labour hire—are turning up to work sick as they can't afford to take a day off, and that leads to them infecting the rest of the workforce. We were also hearing stories about big mining companies laying off large numbers of people, retrenching people—which is what should be done when companies don't have the work to provide to people—but, the very same day, advertising for people to come in via labour hire arrangements on much worse terms and conditions and without the security of long-term employment that the people that they're retrenching used to have. It is unacceptable for companies to be doing this to their workforce and it's unacceptable for companies to be doing this to the communities in Central Queensland, but, unfortunately, there is nothing being done to stop it.

Some of the more high-profile examples where this is occurring include the actions of Aurizon, a large rail freight company headquartered in Queensland. They should be a Queensland success story, but they're doing the wrong thing by their workforce. Not only are they closing the Rockhampton Railway Workshops—a historic site in Rockhampton that has provided hundreds of jobs to the Rockhampton community for decades—and making the entire workforce redundant but they have also joined the list of companies who are now out there looking for people to employ on short-term contracts and through labour hire. Again, it's not as if the company do not have work to provide to people and it's not as if they don't need people to work for them; they're getting rid of permanent workers and bringing people in on short-term, casual arrangements. I've now met twice with the CEO of Aurizon to protest about the decisions of the company, and I've encouraged him to revisit those decisions. I've written to him about that again this week, and I'm hopeful that, with continued pressure from politicians, the media and the community, Aurizon will reverse their decisions.

But it's not just them; we're seeing it from big mining companies like Glencore, who currently are involved in a bitter dispute with their workforce in the mining town of Tieri. The workers there are not looking for a pay rise. They've agreed that they won't take a pay rise. It's about basic conditions around the right to be represented in the workplace when you're being terminated and when there's some kind of dispute going on. We're seeing it over and over again in Middlemount, Moranbah and Glendon. All the mining communities in the Bowen Basin are suffering from this epidemic of casualisation.

Unfortunately, the LNP, which represents all of these seats at the federal level, is doing nothing. We're seeing nothing from Michelle Landry, nothing from George Christensen and nothing from Ken O'Dowd, and Matthew Canavan, the outgoing minister for resources, was proud to say he's representing the mining sector. They've got to stand up for the workforce.