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

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Industrial Relations, Senator Payne. A report by PwC has found one in five employees in the construction, healthcare, retail, accommodation and food service industries have been victims of wage theft. Why, after six years in power, has the government done nothing to address rampant wage theft?

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for her question. Let me be very clear that this government has zero tolerance for any exploitation of workers. That includes the underpayment of wages and entitlements by any employer. In fact, we have taken significant action to date to protect vulnerable workers. We've included over $60 million in additional resources and given more powers to the regulator, the Fair Work Ombudsman, as well as increasing penalties against lawbreaking employers by up to tenfold. The increased funding means the Fair Work Ombudsman is better resourced to continue its very important work, recovering 64 per cent more money for workers in 2018-19 compared with those opposite's last full year in office, in 2012-13, and securing more than double the amount of court ordered penalties against employers.

We have also introduced higher penalties, as I said, which are having an impact. The first decision taking into account our new protecting vulnerable workers legislation was handed down by the court in late August. Penalties of over $125,000 against operators of two food outlets in Queensland were imposed.

The Fair Work Ombudsman's firmer stance is also starting to deliver results. The latest data confirms that we've seen double the number of litigations filed and, as I said, a 60 per cent increase in the amount of money recovered for workers by the Fair Work Ombudsman this calendar year to date compared with the last, with almost 20 per cent more employees benefiting from Fair Work Ombudsman recovery action.

Notwithstanding those changes, while we recognise that the majority of employers try to do the right thing by their workers, there are those that do not. There have been some who've been asleep at the wheel and who haven't paid enough attention to ensuring that they're meeting their obligations that they owe their employees, because it seems they tend to prefer—

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, Senator Payne. Senator Walsh, a supplementary question?

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

The PwC report found that wage theft costs working Australians $1.35 billion every year. Can the minister confirm that this government is happy to allow companies who have committed wage theft to continue operating?

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've been through a number of the steps that the government has taken, including the protecting vulnerable workers legislation and including the support for the Fair Work Ombudsman, but we are also in the process of drafting legislation to introduce criminal penalties, for the first time, for the worst forms of worker exploitation. That is one of the key recommendations, for example, of the Migrant Workers' Taskforce.

We have also released a discussion paper focused on identifying further improvements to protections of employees' wages and entitlements, which includes stronger civil penalties, greater deterrence for sham contracting and closely examining the suitability of employers' liability where entities in their supply network flout employment laws. We will release a further discussion paper seeking feedback on the compliance and enforcement framework in the coming weeks. That paper will canvass topics which include faster, more efficient remedies for workers to recover unpaid wages and empowering the Fair Work Ombudsman to peruse banning and disqualification order applications against directors of— (Time expired)

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Walsh, a final supplementary question?

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

Minister, why is it one rule for companies committing wage theft and another rule for unions who seek to protect working Australians against it?

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just because those opposite say it doesn't make it true. I have been very clear about the initiatives and the legislation which we will produce from the recommendations of the Migrant Workers' Taskforce about the protecting vulnerable workers initiatives, about the efforts of the Fair Work Ombudsman and about the funding and powers that we have provided in that context. What that says is that we take this issue seriously, and we also take seriously the poor behaviour of some organisations that those opposite would apparently seek to defend.