Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week Black Friday is approaching, and once again the spotlight is on the Make Amazon Pay campaign. It's shameful that Amazon continues to have some of the worst working conditions in the world. In Australia, Amazon has called in police on union officials who are exercising lawful right-of-entry permits to investigate suspected workplace health and safety breaches. Amazon Flex drivers are being pressured into dangerous practices, such as overloading and rushing through deliveries. It beggars belief that, despite all the shocking revelations from the Transport Workers Union, Amazon told a parliamentary inquiry that no meaningful safety issues had been raised with them. That is just blatantly untrue. Concerns have also been raised by the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association, which represents workers at Amazon sites in Australia, that Amazon's surveillance of its workforce could be in breach of freedom of association laws. There are proceedings in the Federal Court against Amazon on behalf of an employee who alleges she was denied permanent employment after disclosing she was pregnant.

As if Amazon's record on ripping off workers is not bad enough, they also have a shocking environmental record and are ripping off Australian taxpayers by shifting income offshore into low-income tax jurisdictions. In doing so, they are getting an unfair advantage over other Australian businesses that are doing the right thing. It's because of practices like Amazon's that Labor have had to crackdown on multinational tax avoidance, and why our 'same job, same pay' laws and minimum standards for gig economy workers are so badly needed. The coalition voted against our workers' protection and they will unwind them if they win the next election, allowing companies like Amazon to continue exploiting their workers. That is just unbelievable. Congratulates to the TWU and SDA in continuing the action to make workplaces safe for Amazon workers.