Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is with pleasure that I rise to speak with my Labor colleagues on the bill before the House now, the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Bill 2017, the government's proposed solution to what is a massive problem of systemic worker exploitation in this country. Firstly, I think it is timely for us to make some reflections on the status quo, the context in which this bill emerges. We really need to shine a light on the government's track record to get to this point where we are today. Let's be clear: this is not a government that is the friend of Australian workers. In fact, from day one they have waged a savage and relentless war on workers' pay and conditions. They have ruthlessly pursued unions and tried to shackle the ability of men and women to unite in any way to represent their interests in the workplace. They have savagely cut staff from key front-line government agencies, reducing services and leaving thousands of remaining workers still waiting for a pay rise more than three years on. They have delayed superannuation increases for seven years, costing workers thousands of dollars in retirement savings and putting a massive strain on future governments that will have to spend more on pensions.

The government has also cut the Tools for the Trade program, and support for apprenticeships is now at record low numbers. The government has re-opened a 457 visa loophole that will allow employers to hire an unlimited number of foreign workers under temporary work visas without scrutiny. It has signed a free trade agreement with China which would have allowed employers to hire workers from overseas without having to advertise jobs for local workers first. This would now be enshrined if it were not for Labor, which was able to negotiate important amendments to safeguard Australian jobs. Similarly, Labor held off attempts to pass legislation that would see 93 per cent of Australian seafarers replaced with foreign workers earning as little as $2 an hour. Sadly, the government cut support for Australia's car industry and goaded Holden to pull out of Australia, resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of jobs. I see the member for Wakefield has joined us in the chamber, and I know that that is an issue that he has pursued relentlessly. He has articulated the pain and suffering of workers in South Australia on those job losses in shipbuilding and in car manufacturing.

Not content with destroying existing industries, the government has also turned to slashing funding and support for the very sectors that we need to create jobs of the future, industries like renewable energy and science and innovation. Those Australians who believed that the member for Wentworth would lead to a more progressive, worker friendly government were quickly disabused of that notion. If there is one thing we have learnt about the member for Wentworth in the past year and a half, it is that there is no personal conviction, no moral standing and no firmly held belief that he will not sacrifice in order to keep the top job. Mr Turnbull's precarious grasp on the leadership has seen him do anything to appease the right wing of his party and the business lobby. As a result, under the member for Wentworth things have got much worse for many workers then we could have imagined. In fact, the very justification the Prime Minister used to take the country to a double dissolution election and an eight-week campaign was to get support for two thoroughly antiworker bills, those dealing with registered organisations and the re-establishment of the failed and draconian Australian Building and Construction Commission.

Soon after gaining the top job, the Prime Minister morphed from the man who championed a strong safety net and high wages to the man who is backing cuts to Sunday penalty rates for some Australia's lowest paid workers. These low wages will become the new low benchmark for the bargaining agreements yet to be negotiated and the award decisions to be determined in the future. Today it is fast food, hospitality and pharmacy; tomorrow it could well be hairdressers, nurses and cleaners taking the hit. As if that was not bad enough, the Turnbull government followed up with a submission to the Fair Work Commission arguing against increases to the minimum wage, despite record low wage growth in this nation and a 75-year high inequality. Even Mr Turnbull's announcement that he was abolishing—I use the word loosely—the 457 visa, was quickly revealed to be a hollow stunt. It will affect only 8½ per cent of overseas workers who are currently in the country on 457 visas. The trade minister had already refused to rule out waving requirements are companies to look for Australian workers first before hiring overseas in future trade agreements.

While the government has spent the last four years attacking workers' rights, big business has been showered with favours. The Turnbull government remains determined to rob schools, hospitals and universities to pay for its $50 billion big-business tax cut, even though its own modelling shows that that will deliver only a one per cent boost to growth, and even that minuscule amount we are going to have to wait 20 years for. That is the government's own modelling. That is not what Labor is saying. That is the government's own modelling.

They have also failed to do anything meaningful on multinational tax avoidance, which is estimated to cost the federal budget $6 billion a year. This is $6 billion that we would be investing right now in health, education, critical infrastructure—things that are really going to drive jobs in this economy.

With this track record, it will not surprise you that those opposite have taken literally years to act on widespread reports of despicable worker exploitation. In fact, the story first hit the mainstream almost two years ago, when Fairfax Media joined forces with Four Corners for a groundbreaking investigation into the scandalous behaviour of the 7-Eleven franchises. Journalists acted on whistleblower information and found that not only was worker exploitation happening but it was a fundamental element of the franchise business model.

In September 2014, Fair Work raided 20 stores across the country and found that 60 per cent of those stores were underpaying staff. Stores regularly required workers to undertake many hours of unpaid training. Time sheets were doctored. Workers were owed tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid wages, with one worker lodging four separate Fair Work claims amounting to $140,000. One worker worked at four different stores on the Gold Coast, and he was underpaid at every single one of them. Some workers were officially paid the correct amount but then told by their bosses that they had to return a very substantial part of their pay packet to their bosses in cash or lose their jobs. Franchisees said their businesses could not possibly make a profit if they paid the legal wage entitlements. What an indictment.

Meanwhile, the head office of the multinational chain, with more than 16,000 stores in 16 countries, recorded annual profits of $1.44 million in Australia and took a 57 per cent share of gross profits from the franchisees. This despicable business model preys on vulnerable Australians, especially students from overseas, who are often terrified to speak out for fear of losing their visas. Many who did complain were threatened with deportation.

But the 7-Eleven scandal is just the tip of the iceberg. Since these revelations, we have heard reports of systemic exploitation, wage theft and fraud occurring in a number of companies. This year alone we heard about the widespread underpayment at Caltex, where staff were doing night shifts for half the legal rate and were not receiving any tax returns. Then there was the Domino's scandal, which revealed that not only were workers not getting paid what they were entitled to but franchisees were selling sponsorship to prospective workers from overseas for as much as $150,000.

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