Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the member for Scullin's motion and, with him, to commend the Victorian and Queensland governments, who are taking action in this very critical space. We have seen, in the research done in the Victorian government's inquiry into the labour hire industry, how endemic this problem is in Victoria and across our nation, and it is reflected by the number of pages in that report and the number of papers that have been done. I join the member for Scullin in calling on the Turnbull government to take some action by sitting down with us to look at this, as we have done in our electorates.

On becoming the member for Lalor, one of the first things that I did was sit down with Tim Kennedy of the National Union of Workers to talk about the casualisation and insecurity of work, because, of course, in the electorate of Lalor, where transport and logistics is such a big employer, this is a critical issue. We have heard the member for Scullin speak about migrant workers, and I am very proud that the western community legal centre WEstjustice, who have made submissions to the Labor Party and to the Victorian inquiry, are doing fantastic work around the exploitation of migrant workers in this labour hire area. But I have to say that to reduce this conversation to the impacts on migrant workers does a huge disservice to workers in my electorate who are not in a visa class, were born in this country and are finding themselves being exploited. In Victoria, we estimate there are hundreds of thousands of workers involved in labour hire arrangements, but how would we know? It is not a regulated industry, so how would we know how many workers are being exploited under these arrangements and how would we know how to deal with it? We would start with an inquiry.

I note that the members with me today, I believe, all three of us—the member for Burt may have spoken last week on the government's legislation about protecting vulnerable workers—stood shocked that we were there. Here was a bill. It seemed to have a name that matched the intent of the parliamentarians in this place. But, of course, it did not go far enough. It did not address this specific issue. It did not address labour hire arrangements. It did not address a national register for labour hire companies. It did not address phoenixing and sham contracts.

I know that there are many unions across the country that have concerns in this space, as well as the NUW who have run a fantastic campaign—Jobs you can count on—and who have spent many hours talking to us and talking to residents in our communities on the shop floor, talking to people who are working in my electorate in transport and logistics, working with people who are casually employed to ensure that they understand their rights under the law and that those who are being dealt with outside of the law are registering those complaints. I also note that the TWU have specific concerns in this area and I know that our colleagues in the Senate are doing a lot of work to highlight those as well.

I reference Professor Anthony Forsyth's work in chairing the inquiry in Victoria. I commend the Andrews Labor government on taking up those 35 recommendations, most of which they will support. Most importantly, both there and in Queensland, under the Palaszczuk government, I commend those state governments for doing, let's face it, what is the federal government's work. We all know that industrial relations in this country, that the framework and laws that are designed to regulate industrial relations in this country, happen in this place.

Last week there was an opportunity, in the last sitting week, for this government to take some action. They gravely failed to take that action, and workers will continue to be in insecure work. They will continue to be casualised to the point where their families have no security, will continue to have young people—particularly young people in my electorate—waiting for that text to tell them whether they have work tomorrow or not, will continue not to be paid superannuation although it appears on their pay slip, will continue to have young workers who go to what they assume is their employer to say, 'I've had a bit of an accident at work; I've got an injury,' to be told they have to report that to a labour hire company for whom their only contact is a text message daily.

This government needs to take action. The member for Corangamite is passionate, but she cares not enough about the workers in my electorate and hers.

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