Barbara Pocock (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week the government introduced a bill aimed at closing some significant loopholes that undercut wages and conditions for vulnerable workers. However, it falls short of closing a major loophole in our employment laws—that is, the unrestricted access employers have to workers outside their paid hours. Australian workers, on average, are doing six weeks of unpaid overtime every year. The scale of this wage and time theft is being driven by the widespread use of new technologies in our working lives. They mean that workers are always contactable by phone after hours, on the weekend and while they're on holiday. Work is following us everywhere. It's in our pocket and it has massive consequences for people's lives.

I've heard from workers. Many of them are experiencing burnout. They've got poor sleep and they've got serious stress because of excessive hours. Availability creep interrupts our precious family time. The pressing need to spend time with our loved ones and our kids is pitted against the demands of work. For many workers, not answering the phone is not an option. People in insecure work are constantly waiting for the phone to ring to let them know when their next shift might be or whether they'll earn enough to cover the rent this week. No-one should need to be available to their boss 24/7. Workers need a right to disconnect.

We need to change the norms and change the conversation. It's not a radical idea. The right to disconnect has very broad support in our community. Eighty-four per cent of Australians think the government should legislate for this in our national employment law. Unions are already championing the cause, fighting for this right to be included in collective agreements. Australia's workplace relations system needs to reflect a 21st century workforce. We need to update our standards in this area. No-one should be facing theft at work—theft of wages, theft of penalty payments, theft of superannuation or theft by means of unpaid working time. (Time expired)