Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Transportation is critical to all of us. Our transport workers and freight operators bring food to our tables, medicines to our chemists and our exports to the global markets. It heartens me that we still live in a country that celebrates hard work and the great achievements of the transport industry and their support for Labor's transport standards reforms.

Industry leaders from the Transport Workers Union, small businesses and employer associations have come together to fight against workplace fatalities and the race to the bottom that is placing unrealistic expectations on our essential transport workers. I congratulate these organisations. When you bring unions, businesses, and owners and operators together you have to be on the right track, and I congratulate each and every organisation on their hard work in finding a common cause to improve the productivity and safety of their sector.

When the transport industry came to Canberra last month, we heard personal stories from a sector under fire. Both owner and employee truck drivers passionately discussed how eroding conditions are putting lives at risk. And when they put their lives at risk that means that other people on the roads—our families, our friends, our children—are also at risk on those roads. The high demands for faster and cheaper freight have led to rampant safety violations, undercutting and an unsustainable pressure on truck drivers. Without adequate standards, intense competition is pushing freight-cut companies to the brink. At the same time, transport operators trying to do the right thing are finding it harder to compete.

Over the last two years alone, 100—100!—truck drivers have died on Australian roads, making transport one of Australia's most dangerous industries to work in. We heard from Bradley, an owner-driver who has worked in the field for a decade. Bradley, and drivers like him, are under threat as unscrupulous operators fail to adhere to minimum standards. He's concerned that pay and conditions could be slashed as good companies are forced to compete on an unequal playing field, leading to less pay, more stress on workers and roads that are far less safe.

We also heard from gig economy drivers who talked about the danger and uncertainties they face at work. A majority of transport gig workers make less than minimum wage. They make less than minimum wage in this cost-of-living crisis while facing abuse and the threat of being fired at any time for not accepting enough work or for not meeting delivery deadlines. So the pressure they have to work under every day adds to that burden of unsafety on our roads. The pressure to deliver faster and faster regardless of the road conditions have claimed more than 15 lives over the last two years. When injury or death occur, gig workers and their families often have nowhere to turn. Joanne has worked as a taxi and a rideshare driver for more than 17 years. She saw how industry standards have declined as taxi services were replaced by cheaper, more demanding and less certain rideshare work.

The Albanese government is ready to meet these challenges. Through the closing-the-loophole act passed this year, Labor is putting the full force of the law behind better conditions for transport workers, because better conditions for transport workers leads to better and safer roads for all of us to travel on. Labor's reforms come after three years of listening to and working with the industry. It comes after the former coalition government abolished the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal without any plan on how to replace it. It follows the workplace relations minister's industry roundtable last year, which brought together major transport operators and clients, employee associations, workers and policy experts. By giving the Fair Work Commission the power to set binding standards in transport, Labor's new law will help create safer roads, better working conditions and a more sustainable commercial environment.

Labor's transport standards reforms will not only assist transport workers, but also keep Australians safer on our roads, which is a good thing for all users. There have been over 370 truck crash deaths over the last two years. We know that one road fatality is one too many. By ensuring truck drivers are able to rest by stopping this race to the bottom in terms of their work, pay and conditions and being forced with unreasonable time frames, those things will be addressed through this legislation. Labor is taking action to make Australian roads safer, as I said, for everyone. In my home state of Tasmania, Labor's transport reforms will help create safer and better jobs. Thousands of Tasmanian workers serve their community as truck drivers or transport gig workers—thousands of men and women who deserve safe and respectful working conditions. These Tasmanian workers will now be better off thanks to Labor raising the bar.

The Albanese government is addressing the cost of living with a tranche of policies to help all Australians adjust to these new economic circumstances. On Monday we passed through this place important improvements to paid parental leave. This means everything to families. It helps them to juggle work and caring responsibilities with greater ease. The expansion to 26 weeks is the largest investment in this scheme since it was introduced in 2011 by another Labor government. Crucially, this investment will increase support for both birth parents and partners. Up to 22 weeks of leave will be available for one parent, which is up from 18 weeks, with four weeks reserved for the other parent, which is up from two weeks. A single parent can access the full entitlement, which is great news for single mums—or single dads—across the country. We all know that women lose out financially where caring responsibilities are concerned. We're acting decisively to level the playing field and help women across the country. As well as increasing the reserve period to encourage shared care, which is critical for women's economic equality, these changes give families more flexibility by doubling the period parents can take concurrently from two to four weeks. Expanding paid parental leave to 26 weeks also complements the government's plan, announced earlier this month, to pay superannuation on paid parental leave from 1 July 2025. This is all part of the Albanese Labor government's agenda to create a better and fairer society.

We haven't stopped there. When we first came into government, we increased the minimum wage. Wages are moving again in Australia, with 250,000 aged-care workers receiving a 14 per cent increase in their take-home pay. I'm proud to be part of a government that is taking a holistic approach to the cost of living and improving people's lives with its policies: tax cuts for all taxpayers, fee-free TAFE, cheaper child care, cheaper medicines, 60-day dispensing of medicines and more generous paid parental leave. We have tripled the bulk-billing incentive, which means doctors are bulk-billing more than they have before. We've invested in urgent care clinics, taking pressure off emergency departments. Just last week, I joined the Minister for Health and Aged Care, Mark Butler, at the Launceston urgent care clinic, where we met with the medical administration team and the doctors that are there in Launceston. Wow, are they doing it well! The doctors that we spoke to love being there. They've had no problem at all recruiting doctors to the urgent care clinic, because what they're able to do, they say, is to treat the patient holistically while they're there. At the same time they're able to bounce off other colleagues, which gives a better outcome for all of those patients that have thus far used those services. They do intend to expand further. They're in the process of building new premises. They have invested, along with the federal government, in northern Tasmanians' health to get better outcomes.

Since the clinic in Launceston opened, 8,700 people have gone through that urgent care clinic, and all they needed was their Medicare card—not their credit card—saving them crucial money to help deal with the cost of living that we're all experiencing. I can assure you, and those listening, that the Albanese government will not stop addressing the cost-of-living challenges facing our country. We want a better and a fairer society. We want equality, and we want to assist Australians where we can to deal with the cost-of-living crisis.