Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased today to rise in the Senate to talk about hardworking Queenslanders and their efforts to get increased pay rises in North Queensland—not just for themselves but to benefit our regional communities. Of course, working hard to get wages moving and putting more money into the pockets of Australians is a key priority for our government. That's why you've seen key legislation around making sure that, if you work the same job, you get the same pay and that workers have the opportunity to bargain fairly. We have got wages moving, and we're very pleased about that.

But I want to bring to the attention of the Senate today an issue that is unfolding at the Wilmar Sugar mills in regional Queensland. Last week I met with representatives of those workers from Wilmar Sugar, and today I met with a representative from Wilmar Sugar itself. During our meeting, I emphasised that Wilmar Sugar needs to come to the bargaining table in good faith and find a resolution that will work for workers and the community. However, if my meeting today was in any way a reflection of what has been happening around the bargaining tables in North Queensland since March 2023, I can understand why an agreement has yet to be reached.

It is extraordinary that you would come into the office of a senator, speak over them, refuse to talk to them and put to that senator, who is simply seeking to understand the plight of workers in the community, that this is just part of a robust debate. It's not a robust debate to speak over someone when they're trying to talk to you about the workers that they represent, and it really did make me think how disrespectful this bargaining process must be to workers who are sitting on the other end of the table who are not senators in this parliament and who are not MPs or local members, but who are simply trying to advocate for a pay rise.

Since March 2023, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, the Electrical Trades Union and the Australian Workers Union have been engaged in protracted negotiations with Wilmar Sugar. After 15 months of negotiations and two failed enterprise bargaining agreements, where more than 80 per cent of the workforce have voted against the offer that has been put by the company, it's clear that Wilmar needs to do more to do the right thing by workers, by the community and by growers, and that's exactly what I'm calling for them to do today.

When workers ask for a wage increase that keeps up with the cost of living, they are doing that to put food on the table. And they are doing that, in this case, by asking for a pay increase from a company that has had record profits. I know how this works. I know that corporate giants like Wilmar Sugar will come into the bargaining room and say that they simply couldn't afford a pay rise and that it is not feasible to give workers any increase in what they are offering. But, for those of you who are not familiar with Wilmar Sugar, I want to let you know this: this is a big company and, yes, it's supporting lots of jobs in regional Queensland, but it's also supported by an international company.

Wilmar Sugar is owned by Wilmar International, a company based overseas, and I thought I had better check these claims that Wilmar Sugar simply can't afford to increase workers' wages during a cost-of-living crisis. I thought I'd better check these claims about record profits because it's important to know your facts. A simple check established quite clearly that Wilmar International, a multinational company which owns Wilmar Sugar and which is based in Singapore, made $1.5 billion of net profit last year. This is the company that is telling workers they can't afford a pay rise. After months of bargaining, this isn't going anywhere and, after years without a pay rise, it's well within these workers' rights to take protected industrial action. 'Protected' means that they've gone through the right processes; they're not simply walking off the job. They've applied for protected industrial action, they've voted on that action and they're keen to take it. But, when workers did that a few weeks ago, Wilmar said that they would lock them out of their workplaces and stop them from taking that protected industrial action.

That didn't happen, thankfully, and it didn't happen because the community called for Wilmar to stop and to not go ahead with locking out these workers. And, when I say 'the community', I really want to be clear about this: yes, this is something that I'm advocating for and, yes, I support the workers, but I have seen support calls from other members from other parties. The local MP Dale Last has called for the bullying tactics to stop. Members of the Katter party in North Queensland have also called for Wilmar to get on with it and get back to crushing cane.

This is not one of those industrial disputes where it's a red-team/blue-team situation. People in North Queensland know that these workers work hard, that sugarcane crushing and the sugar industry is so important for our community, and that these workers are the same community members who put their kids on the football team, who spend money in the local shops, who keep our community going. That is why we've seen such a resounding response from the community and will continue to see a resounding response from the community.

It is absolutely unacceptable that this bargaining process continues without a decent offer being made to workers at Wilmar. I want to see a resolution. I want to be clear: I don't want to see workers having to take protected industrial action. I don't want to see this go further, into September. I want to see this dealt with now. That is what I am calling for from Wilmar Sugar today—not to come down to Canberra and come into the offices of senators and MPs and plead their case. These are not the tables you need to be at. You need to be at the bargaining table with your workers, and you need to put an offer on the table that acknowledges that there have been cost-of-living increases, that there hasn't been a pay rise, that you're not offering backpay and that the workers who work at your mills keep the company going. Without them, there is no sugar industry in North Queensland.

It is very clear to me that there needs to be some action and some movement from this company. I know workers have applied to take further protected industrial action next week, and I know the company has applied to stop that protected industrial action. Well, I think cooler heads should prevail. If workers have been forced to go to protected industrial action, they should be allowed to take that action. But the best way to stop that from happening is not running to the Fair Work Commission, not pleading your case to the Fair Work Commission but putting a decent offer on the table for these workers.

The community in North Queensland deserves this. This isn't just about one set of workers fighting for better wages; this is about workers being dismissed for years and years under the former Liberal-National government. After this fruitless bargaining and years without a pay rise, these workers absolutely deserve more. The community deserves more. One of these workers, an electrician, said to me that they are choosing between paying weekly bills and paying for health insurance. Another worker is deciding whether they can put fuel in the car next week. They deserve so much better. Job insecurity and being underpaid hurts workers and by extension hurts our communities. The wages earned by workers in regional Queensland are not just numbers on a pay cheque; they represent money that goes back into our local economy.

Enough is enough. If you want to come to Canberra and come into the office of a senator from Queensland and stand over her and bully her and speak over her, then I can't even imagine how you are treating workers. Well, I can tell you, we've got solidarity with those workers. Those workers are standing in solidarity with me today, and the community is standing in solidarity with those workers, and we will not be bullied and we will not be pushed around. Workers deserve to stand up, to be proud of the fight they've fought and to keep fighting that fight until it is won. They should do that proudly, and they should do it together, united. That is what they have been doing. I stand with those workers in regional Queensland. I stand with the Wilmar Sugar workers and their representatives and I say to them, stand up for this fight.