Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes the decision of the Fair Work Ombudsman not to fund the work of the Queensland Working Women's Service (QWWS) for vulnerable workers;

(2) recognises that the QWWS has:

(a) been providing free, specialist information, advice and representation to vulnerable women about work related problems since 1994;

(b) assisted thousands of women to access information, advice and advocacy in relation to employment matters or concerns, including over 4,000 specialist advisory sessions to vulnerable workers during 2016; and

(c) negotiated over $770,000 by way of settlements for outstanding entitlements or compensation for alleged breaches of industrial and discrimination laws for clients during the 2016 financial year; and

(3) recognises the important work that the QWWS has been providing to vulnerable Queensland women for over 20 years.

I have known the Queensland Working Women's Service for a very long time. In fact, my association with them dates back to when I was an articled clerk in the early 2000s, and I got to know the Queensland Working Women's Service when Cath Rafferty was the coordinator, which is a very long time ago now. Since I got to know them, I spent my period in legal practice offering their clients either free or heavily discounted legal advice, because I was so impressed by the work the Queensland Working Women's Service did—a not-for-profit organisation with a management committee made up of volunteers and highly professional and impressive staff who were working for pay. In the community sector, pay is not what it is in the private sector, and any of those people could have got a job out in the private sector, but instead they decided to take a discount on their pay and work for a community organisation because of the vocation that they had: wanting to help people who were having trouble at work and particularly women who were having trouble at work. It is important because women tend to have a bit less power at work. They tend to be a bit less unionised and they tend to be a bit more vulnerable to exploitation, particularly women in less skilled occupations or in low-paid occupations. So a service like Queensland Working Women's Service is really important.

Since 1994, Queensland Working Women's Service have been providing assistance to vulnerable women in Queensland about their rights at work, and they have the objective of assisting women to remain in employment and to reduce the risk of poverty, financial hardship or reliance on welfare. They provide assistance to women in all sorts of circumstances where they are experiencing workplace related issues, like domestic violence, which is an issue at work because, if you have an ex or a partner who is violent towards you, that can manifest in control at work or tracking you down at work. But they have also helped women in all sorts of other situations. Pregnancy discrimination is one. Workplace bullying is another. In fact, Cath Rafferty, whom I mentioned before, led the Queensland task force in relation to workplace bullying in the early 2000s and was instrumental in the workplace health and safety guideline being created as a way for employers to have best practice to avoid bullying in their workplaces.

It should be clear that the service that this organisation provides and has provided since 1994 is invaluable. It is unfortunate, therefore, that there has been a decision by the Fair Work Ombudsman not to fund the Queensland Working Women's Service and a failure by the Turnbull government to provide additional funding to it. Consequently, I regret to advise that the service has announced that it will be looking at closure on 8 March, which is regrettable—and isn't it ironic that, on International Women's Day, a service that has been providing these supports for women since 1994 will have to close unless it is funded?

I wanted to rise in this place today to raise concerns about this decision not to fund the Queensland Working Women's Service. In 2016 alone, this service assisted over 1,000 women to get access to information, advice and advocacy on their behalf in relation to employment matters or concerns, including over 4,000 specialist advisory sessions for vulnerable workers. In that one year, the service negotiated over $770,000 by way of settlements for outstanding entitlements or compensation for alleged breaches of industrial and discrimination laws for their clients. All of these services were provided free of charge to the most vulnerable women in our community. Over the period 2015-16 most of the inquiries were about unfair dismissal, at 42 per cent, followed by discrimination, at 28 per cent, and workplace harassment and bullying, at 25 per cent.

The Prime Minister says that he believes that, when a woman is empowered, the whole economy, the whole community, benefits. That should also mean that he wants to see women being empowered. Unfortunately that does mean providing support to women who are vulnerable and who are in trouble at work. So the Queensland Working Women's Service need some action and they need it now. They feel abandoned by the federal government because of this decision to not fund them. They have made very clear that they are looking at having to close their doors. The Northern Territory and South Australian chapters have also had their federal funding cut, through the Fair Work Ombudsman, but they have received funding through a separate grant, whereas Queensland have not. This is a very specific issue for people in Queensland. This will leave a great big hole in the support that is available to women in vulnerable situations who are vulnerable to exploitation. It is a wrong and it should be righted by this government.

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