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

In less than an hour's time, the new NRL preseason kicks off with the Warriors playing the Tigers in Auckland. Around Australia and especially in my old neck of the woods, Sutherland Shire, rugby league is a massive part of peoples' lives. For those who don't know, NRL players, through their union, are currently negotiating with the NRL for a new collective bargaining agreement. This happens every five years. Everyone sits down and negotiates the salary cap, the minimum wage and the support fund for injured and retired players. It's just like the enterprise bargaining that takes place in workplaces around Australia every day.

What isn't normal and what we should never accept in any work place is the NRL secretly recording conversations between players. Last Friday, an NRL official was caught secretly recording a conversation between players, their union and NRL CEO Andrew Abdo. As the Rugby League Players Association said in their letter to the NRL:

The deliberate and covert nature of the recording is breathtaking. It is immoral, unethical and illegal.

These are the sorts of tactics that Amazon uses to intimidate their workers and to target anyone speaking out about working together on workplace issues. Amazon monitors their workers every second that they are at work, including how long they spend in the bathrooms, including who they meet with and what they talk about in the break rooms and even including what they say on their private social media accounts. We don't need companies importing Amazon surveillance tactics here in Australia, especially with a national institution like the NRL.

I also want to speak also in support of what the players and the players union are actually fighting for in these negotiations. Some have dismissed this dispute as being about highly paid footy players wanting more money, but what it's really about is safety. It's about fairness. To quote Canberra Raiders prop Joseph Tapine:

We just want our voices heard because we are a big part of that NRL brand, we just want a seat at the table.

It's just about having a voice at the table and actually having a say …

What Joseph is saying there is that players should be consulted when the NRL changes their employment conditions during the course of this five-year agreement. It sounds pretty reasonable to me for any worker in Australia to have that right. The players and their union also want increased support for players dealing with injuries after they retire. The average first-grade career lasts just 45 games. As Raiders prop Josh Papali'i said:

We sacrifice our bodies to entertain the public …

…   …   …

It's a short career and most players have to go work after it and they're going to have to work with injuries that were caused by playing footy.

Again, it sounds pretty reasonable for the NRL to look after the people who actually play the game.

Last but certainly not least, the men's players are standing in solidarity with female players in the NRLW. Unlike the men's game, the NRLW does not have a collective bargaining agreement, which means they've got no security about their pay or conditions whatsoever. The players and the union are demanding that the women get their own agreement, which would include the first pregnancy and parental leave policy in the Rugby League. To quote Melbourne Storm prop Christian Welch:

I'm really passionate about improving the conditions for players and not necessarily just the men but the women. And at the moment, they can't sign contracts, they're not training.

They're really in limbo to be honest …

It's hard for them to take action, so as part of our unity the men need to stand up—

and that's what they're doing.

I want to commend the NRL players standing in solidarity with the NRLW players. It's about more than entertainment; it's about being a good sport.