Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Dawson should get an award for creative writing! Talk about rewriting history and thinking that this report has led to a change in the culture and behaviour of the big mining companies! I beg to differ. I would like to begin by quoting from an article in the Daily Mercury that was published on Tuesday, July 17: 'Same job same pay: ALP vows to crack down on "dodgy labour hire"'. It states:

The Mackay region is "ground zero" for unfair labour hire practices, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten … has pledged to crack down on labour hire companies that "rip off and exploit" …

I could go on, because it goes on to outline Labor's policy announcement, which we made back in July. It is only because of the pressure of some hardworking Labor candidates in those regional seats in Queensland and the senators making this an issue that we actually got government members to agree to this recommendation in the report that's before us.

I want to acknowledge that those two paragraphs are a step forward by the Liberal-National Party, but they are only a recommendation. When the chair of this committee was the Deputy Prime Minister of this country, when those rorts were going on, he did nothing. And now we're lauding him because he's the chair of a committee putting forward a recommendation? When he was at the cabinet table, he could have put forward those changes—changes that Labor proposed back in July—and actually done something about it. And, when we talk about 'casual', it was the Labor Party at the last election that put forward the need to crack down on the misuse of the term 'casual' and to crack down on the exploitation of workers and the increase of insecure work.

I've had the opportunity in some of my duties to visit a number of the communities. I can remember being in Moranbah and speaking to the workers at the camps there. They were on a BHP camp, and most of them were labour-hire workers. Those workers talked to me about the fact that they were doing the same job as the person working beside them, the same job that they had done for decades, and yet were being paid less because they were working for labour hire. At the moment that is legal. This government has failed. Despite the fact that the workers raised it over and over again, this government has vilified their union, the CFMMEU, for speaking up about the issues. I also met a family in Moranbah. They lived there but worked at another mine. This particular worker had to fly to Brisbane to fly back to work in a mine that was 100 per cent fly-in fly-out.

This isn't new. This is what is happening, and all this government says, through the person who's now the chair of this committee, is: 'We've put forward a recommendation. Job done. Clear conscience.' Not good enough! Where is the legislation? Where are the changes? You've been in for five years, government. Where is the legislation and where are the changes to fix that situation? A family should not have to go through that. A worker who's got the skills should not have to fly to Brisbane to be flown back.

Then we talk about Tieri and what happened there. And there are the crocodile tears coming from the member for Dawson, the member for Flynn and the member for Capricornia! They stood up in the House and repeated an allegation that was false in question time because they wanted to dirty up the CFMMEU. Those workers were locked out. They were locked out by their company, and their company got to bring in labour hire and pay them less. That's a broken Fair Work Act. This government has not backed in Labor's proposal to end those lockouts, to fix that problem. No, this government's not doing that. Instead, those opposite are championing the fact that they've put forward a committee recommendation. That's not good enough. They've been in for five years. They should put forward the legislation to prevent what happened in Tieri from happening somewhere else. Far too many Central Queensland mineworkers—and not just Central Queensland; it's happening in mining everywhere—are being forced to do drive-in drive-out work for labour hire.

I also met some mineworkers in Rockhampton. One of the workers I met there told me that the company had redefined the term 'full-time equivalent'. This person worked for the labour hire company. They had 'full-time equivalent' next to their name. They had to do the same work and wear the same uniform; they had the same responsibilities and the same reporting structures, but they were paid less. They were paid just above the award but much less than their co-workers. It is a loophole that is being exploited by the mining industry, and this government have sat on their hands and done nothing about it for five years.

Another speaker brought up the changes around 457 visas: 'Let's laud us. We've done all the great things. We've cracked down on the fraud with 457 visas.' Well, who's the fraud? The 457 visas may not exist in those terms, but the 482 visa does—and guess what? Those numbers are back through the roof, and the exploitation is just as high. Who's the real fraud here? Changing the name has not changed the culture. But it doesn't just end with the exploitation of those on 482 visas who are coming into these communities and doing this work. We're also finding international students working in the mining sector. Can you believe it? They're here to study and they're working in the mining sector. Backpackers are working in the mining sector. The workforce issues in mining are out of control, and this government has done very little to turn it around. I reckon that a lot of the people in Mackay, Gladstone, Tieri and Moranbah are saying: 'It's too little too late from this government. It's backed in the multinationals for far too long.' They want a government that is going to stand up and reform this.

Labor has been active on this on the ground. In July we announced we would crack down on dodgy labour hire companies that rip off and exploit workers. We've also said that we would change the definition of 'casual' and establish an objective test of what it means to be casual to end this ridiculous concept of 'permanent casual'. We've also said that we will address the labour market problems that we have, where precarious work is increasing. This is our commitment. We want to see an end to what this government has created. We are heading towards a low-paid, easy-to-hire, easy-to-fire society where job security is being undermined. It's putting pressure on wages and families.

But the government is quite divided here. We've got some people on this committee saying there should be reforms to the Fair Work Act, yet the minister responsible is backing in big business when it comes to this matter and is intervening in Fair Work cases. The minister wouldn't intervene in the penalty rates case—'No, no, we have to respect the independence of the Fair Work Commission'—but is intervening in this case. She's intervening in the WorkPac case, a case where the unions and the workers won against the companies, saying, 'If you do the same roster and the same hours with the same expectations, and if you know 12 months in advance what you're going to be doing, then you're technically a full-time employee and not a casual.' While they won that case on the argument, the government is now intervening and backing in business.

That's the kind of hypocrisy we get from this government. When they feel under threat, when their own jobs are under threat, when we've got Labor candidates working really hard on the ground, setting the agenda, talking to people about what really matters, that's when we start to see a little bit of movement from this government. Well, they should go further: in the first week of February, let's see the legislation that makes sure that the same job gets the same pay. Put it up so that we can all debate it and see it happen. Let's make it bipartisan to ensure that we end the exploitation of casuals and that we see a restoration of the original definition of 'casual'. Let's see an end to permanent casuals. Put forward the legislation, and Labor will be happy to work with you to make sure we bring it about. We have far too many labour hire workers here in this country that are being treated poorly by major companies, who flick them away and say, 'You're no longer welcome here.' They don't even get the protections of unfair dismissal. The vast majority—84 per cent—of labour hire employees are technically casual, yet, in a lot of cases, they're doing full-time work. This has to end.

Whilst these two particular paragraphs in the report are welcome and it's an acknowledgement that some in the government understand this is a problem—they've finally woken up to what their communities are so upset about—they have to go further. Use this report to bring about legislation. Tell the minister responsible for industrial relations to back off her case, because whatever you've said today means nothing if she continues to back in the case with the Fair Work Commission and the employers.

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