Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It seems that not a day goes by without a new story of serious wage theft in our country. It can take a lot of courage for workers to speak out and fight for what they're owed. As each new story breaks, these workers want to know what the government are going to do about this wage theft epidemic, because so far the government have been all talk and no action. We know that, in hospitality, wage theft is a business model. Last year, the Fair Work Ombudsman found that almost three-quarters of hospitality venues were noncompliant with the award. But, despite the widespread evidence of wage theft, last month the ombudsman finally admitted that the contrition payment of just $200,000 that was issued to George Calombaris for stealing $7.8 million of his workers' wages was too low.

The community now expect to see tougher action against corporate wage thieves. They want to see tougher action in cases like Rockpool, the latest celebrity chef empire to be accused of wage theft, with a $10 million underpayment claim. I was proud to join Hospo Voice members as they rallied outside Rockpool to speak out against this wage theft and exploitation. I particularly want to congratulate Rohit, a former Rockpool chef, for standing up. Rohit worked 80 hours a week at Rockpool with no breaks. He worked back-to-back 20-hour shifts. For the few hours in between he couldn't go home and sleep, so he would sleep at the restaurant on a pastry bench—all for just $12 an hour. Staff should not have to work like this and they shouldn't have to work for their wages twice—once on their shifts and again when they have to fight to be paid what they are owed.

While workers have to take to the streets to be paid their proper wages, it seems major companies in Australia are pretty good at looking after themselves. Today the average CEO salary has skyrocketed to $4.5 million a year and one in four Australian companies pay absolutely no tax in our country, at a cost of around $1.8 billion to the Australian taxpayer each year. Where are the priorities of the Morrison government in all of this? Their priorities are in going after unions—that's where. These are the very organisations which stand between workers and the rampant exploitation that we're seeing today.

Soon in the Senate we'll be considering the government's anti-union bill. This is a bill that gives companies the power to apply to deregister unions for taking action or even to apply to deregister unions on the basis of paperwork breaches. Under this new bill, George Calombaris, after finding out that the union was investigating him for wage theft, could have applied to have that union shut down. Imagine instead, if you will, if unions were given the power to deregister companies for what they consistently refer to as 'paperwork breaches' and 'paperwork errors' when they underpay their staff. They are errors that companies seem very well able to avoid when setting their CEO salaries, incentives schemes and bonuses, and when constructing their complicated tax arrangements.

Under the Morrison government today, there's one set of rules for workers and their unions and another set of rules for companies that do the wrong thing. Protecting employer bad behaviour doesn't just cost workers; it also costs those businesses that are trying hard to do the right thing. I've met with many hospitality business owners who just want a level playing field. They treat their own staff with respect and they want an industry where all workers are also treated with respect and dignity. They want a tough cop on the beat that can stop them being undercut by competitors who are willing to drive their workers into the ground. But this government, the Morrison government, seems entirely unwilling and unable to be that tough cop. Wage theft is exactly that—theft—and this government has done nothing to stamp it out.