Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The government understands that labour hire services form an important part of our economy and provide an opportunity for flexible work to the benefit of employees and employers. They are particularly important for seasonal work. So any changes to the law governing labour hire arrangements would be intended to capture those providers who are doing the wrong thing and not to discourage the use of labour hire as a legitimate form of employment. The government is aware of breaches of existing laws by certain labour hire operators. These are unacceptable and require action by the appropriate authorities. That is one reason why the Turnbull government is taking strong action. It has provided an additional $20 million to the Fair Work Ombudsman and has established Taskforce Cadena to target worker exploitation wherever that occurs.

The government also last year established a migrant workers task force chaired by the former ACCC chair, Professor Allan Fels, which has been asked to specifically examine whether changes to the law are needed to prevent the exploitation of migrant workers engaged through labour hire. In April the task force heard from Professor Forsyth, who was the chair of the Victorian inquiry. The task force also heard from the recruitment and consulting services association, which is currently developing an industry led certification process for labour hire operators. At its meeting, the task force welcomed the industry led reforms and also committed to giving careful consideration to further options for addressing the issue of worker exploitation in the context of labour hire.

Labour hire operators—and this is an important point to reiterate—are subject to the same laws as any employer. The government is also protecting workers by strengthening their protections in workplace laws. One of the very profound ways in which we are taking action—in contrast to those opposite who took no action when in government—is our Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Bill, which is currently before the parliament. The bill increases penalties for underpayment, it tackles some of the incredibly shocking exploitation we have seen by the likes of 7-Eleven, it gives the Fair Work Ombudsman investigative powers similar to corporate regulators and it holds head offices like 7-Eleven's responsible for underpayments if their network of franchisees is complicit or turns a blind eye.

We have an example in Geelong, where a young man was working for 7-Eleven. He was being paid properly on the books and yet he was being forced to make cashbacks. I am absolutely delighted that the Minister for Employment, Senator Michaelia Cash, along with the Fair Work Ombudsman acted so quickly, and that particular worker has now had the underpaid amount repaid to him. That is an example of how our government is acting, in contrast to those opposite when the Labor Party was in government, where no action was taken in this regard. We have seen the absolute hypocrisy from Labor when it comes to penalty rates. Let's not forget that it was the Leader of the Opposition who trashed the independence of the Fair Work Commission, which he helped establish and whose decisions he pledged to support, while ignoring deals between unions and big businesses, which have worked together to trade away penalty rates. That is why we are taking action to outlaw corrupting benefits. We have seen some really sleazy deals between some unions and Labor and large employers, where workers have been stripped of their penalty rates altogether by employers like Woolworths, Coles, KFC and McDonald's. We have also seen, under the Labor Party, a system where labour hire agreements supported the importation of workers under 457 visas working in places like McDonald's, when young Australian workers were denied the opportunity to do that work. We have seen absolute hypocrisy from Labor on this issue.

We are very proud to be standing up for workers who have been exploited in the workplace, through the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Bill and the Fair Work Amendment (Corrupting Benefits) Bill. The exploitation of these workers is an example of what happens when Labor is in power. It is an example of the sleazy deals being done and their effect on all those young workers across Australia who have lost their penalty rates. I condemn this motion and I say, 'Hear, hear!' to the Turnbull government, which is taking strong action protecting workers. (Time expired)

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