Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for the Republic) Share this | Hansard source

We support the Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 7) Bill 2021 and its intentions. It has been referred to the Senate committee for a report. That report is now following an inquiry focus on the tax compliance measures in schedule 1 and tax compliance in the gig economy more broadly. Schedule 1 establishes a new requirement for gig economy companies to provide information on transactions made through the platform to the ATO. This measure implements a recommendation of the report on the Black Economy Taskforce. The government committed to implementing this measure back in the 2019-20 MYEFO.

The focus will now be on gig economy participants adhering to a new compulsory reporting regime, which will be implemented by applying the taxable payments reporting system to certain transactions undertaken under these platforms. Ride-sourcing and short-term accommodation platforms will be first up, with the likes of Uber and Airbnb to report information of all transactions to the ATO from 1 July next year. Asset-sharing, food delivery, tasking based services and other services will be included from 1 July 2023. Back in 2019 both Airbnb and Uber said that they supported this change. The government has talked up the new rules as a way of bridging the transparency gap created by the rapid growth of Australia's gig economy and the current inadequacy of the tax reporting system to capture data about transactions that take place there.

We all know that the government has been slow to react in other areas associated with the gig economy. Although they're taking action here, it has to be matched with other areas where there's probably a need for regulation around gig economy workers, most notably around safety at work. We've unfortunately seen several examples of gig economy workers, particularly riders, being killed or injured in their workplace, on the road or on the footpath, in unsafe conditions, with very little guidance from those that they are engaged to work for about health and safety. There has been a lack of access to personal protective equipment, a lack of audits associated with the equipment that's used to perform the role, be it as a contractor or as an employee of these companies. It has taken, unfortunately, the death of several of these workers for governments and the companies to wake up and understand that they have a duty of care to make sure that there's safety about the way that people are engaging with these companies and then going about performing work on their behalf. Let's never forget that they wear the logos of Uber, Deliveroo et cetera when they are performing these duties. There is a responsibility that comes with that from those companies, and that has been sadly lacking in the past. So, although we're taking action on this, it's time for the government to recognise that there are other areas of regulation where gig economy workers need the support of government.

Schedule 1 is also a missed opportunity and highlights the government's failure in priorities. Labor agrees that everyone should be paying their fair share of tax; however, this legislation sees that burden placed on the workers rather than on multinational tech companies. It also shows that the government is happy to pursue these workers for more tax but does little to ensure that they have secure, fair wages and safe conditions. If the Morrison government is willing to take steps to regulate the gig economy when it comes to tax, it needs to do the same, as I mentioned earlier, for workers' pay and conditions. It's not good enough to allow these workers to receive substandard pay and conditions in an unsafe work environment.

During the Senate inquiry, workers who used these platforms were asked about their views on this bill and if they thought it was fair that it appears the government's priority isn't legislating fair pay and safe conditions for gig workers and the share economy. One of those workers, Ms Rosalina Pirozzi, a rideshare driver, described the lack of action as heartbreaking and says she thinks, 'It's very unfair that workers' rights are not being addressed at the moment.' We know that gig workers, including Ms Pirozzi, don't get superannuation, don't get sick pay and aren't covered by workers compensation. The committee also heard from food delivery rider Ashley Moreland, who talked about his experience. He highlighted the high-pressure environment caused by these platforms' monitoring of performance, which led him to being injured on the job. He said:

This facade of flexibility and low levels of control is a bit of a farce.

I actually found myself in an accident … because of the extraordinarily high feelings of pressure that you're under to make these deliveries as quickly as possible, knowing that every single step of the way—from the time you accept the trip on the app to the time when you race into the restaurant, making do with traffic rules if you can—is monitored and noted against your profile and recorded.

That paints a pretty damning picture of the pressure that many of these workers are under. The constant monitoring and the pressure that they feel to report and make sure that they're meeting delivery guidelines are in some respects unfair, particularly in the context of having to drive through busy traffic in peak hour and the like. If the government can regulate the data that's being captured by these employers for the purposes of fair taxation, which they should, then the government can regulate the wages and working conditions of these workers. Given that these platforms record all of this data, why are they not being given the responsibility for reporting earnings for all the people who work on their platform? That is the question that needs to be answered by the government. It's clear that the rideshare companies, the gig economy companies, accumulate a massive amount of data in respect of not only their taxation reporting requirements but also the health and safety of those that are engaged to perform work for them.

Labor supports this legislation, but it's clear that the government needs to do more to ensure that gig economy workers are provided with fair wages and conditions. If the government is happy to regulate tax, it should be happy to regulate fair pay and conditions for Australian workers.

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