Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This Friday marks Black Friday, a period that will see many Australians purchasing items on sale with an eye to the upcoming Christmas period. Many of these bargains will be fulfilled online through Amazon's distributive centres and, more importantly, through Amazon's distribution workers. While many Australians will be enjoying the fruits of their labours, I want to dedicate my adjournment speech to the workers themselves and call out the antiworker practices that are part of the Amazon model.

Amazon consistently talks up the efficiency and cost savings of technology and innovation. However, the reality is modern-day worker exploitation, surveillance and a workplace culture that values profits over people. This has seen the proliferation of intense observation and scrutiny of workers and their every behaviour and activity, in order to squeeze every last drop of their blood, sweat and tears.

There are countless examples of this calculated exploitation taking place. A 2019 article by the ABC quoted one Amazon worker stating that, due to the relentless metrics set for each hour, he does not drink water, lest he need to use the bathroom and not reach his requirements. Another worker stated that the expectation to collect 120 products an hour had caused her stress, as there was no differentiation in the system between gathering light products and gathering others that weigh 15 or 20 kilograms.

Amazon is antiworker and fiercely anti-union. Mass surveillance was used to override an onsite HR representative and claim that an SDA delegate was technically closer than two metres to an Amazon worker. Ten days after the fact, this was advised in a letter to the union. This was clearly the result of a meticulous CCTV review and was a clear message that Amazon are always watching and that they were not on the side of the workers.

To Amazon, I want to say that the parliament see what you are doing, and we, too, are taking note.

I note that Amazon is a champion tax dodger, with the Fair Tax Foundation finding that Amazon has the worst conduct amongst the tech giants. In July 2024, Italy's tax police seized 121 million euros from Amazon's Italian subsidiary as part of an investigation into alleged tax fraud and illegal labour practices. The Milan prosecutors' office accused Amazon Italia Transport of circumventing labour and tax laws, relying on cooperatives or limited-liability companies that supplied workers while omitting VAT duties and reducing social security payments—hardly an ethical player in the public place.

But there are ways to hold Amazon to account. Amazon Web Services delivers 67 per cent of Amazon's profits and is a major beneficiary of lucrative public contracts, including many from the Australian government. This helps power the Amazon behemoth and keep its practices going. However, the Australian government recognises that procurement is a major economic lever that can be used to hold actors to account. I understand this capacity more than most, through my work in the Senate and on the parliamentary inquiries that investigated PricewaterhouseCoopers. I note that it was PricewaterhouseCoopers' egregious behaviour that ultimately led to the selling off of their government procurement function, valued at $1 billion, for the sum of a mere $1.

I call on Amazon to be a responsible corporate actor; to see that, as a large employer in Australia, they owe a duty to their workers; and to notice that the union is there to champion rights and ensure that Amazon's workforce can absolutely be productive and as safe as possible. This is a very simple request from the workers. I also say it's time to update the workplace surveillance legislation for the current age, to look to protect our valuable workers and help bring joy to the holiday season.