Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support these amendments. Can I say we've just got a pretty good new election advertisement from the Liberals out of the last speech: the Liberals want to change the law so that you can lose wages and conditions and have them go backwards and you have to be available 24/7 to answer your boss's calls even if you're not getting paid for it. I notice that the Leader of the Opposition has now left the chamber. Perhaps he's had a bit of a rethink and decided that it might not be such a terrific idea to say to every worker in this country, 'Every time the boss texts you, you have to respond to it even if it's outside your working hours and you're not available.'

What we now know very clearly is that the Greens won the workers the right to disconnect, which means that, when you clock off, you can switch off. This is critical because so many people in this country have had their personal and family time interrupted by after-hours contact that could have waited until the next day at work. It means people can't watch their kids play footy or that they can't put the kids to bed because they're answering texts or emails instead. We now know that the Liberals don't want you to be able to put your kids to bed in peace; you should be answering emails instead. The Liberals don't want you to be able to enjoy time with mates over the weekend; you have to answer every text message that comes through from your employer. The Liberals want you bound electronically to your boss 24/7 even if you're not getting paid for it.

There has been a big change in technology over the years, and we now all have in our pockets minicomputers that allow us to be contacted pretty much wherever we are and whatever's happening, but the law just hasn't kept up. In part because of that, workers in this country work, on average, about seven weeks of unpaid overtime a year. That's how much average people are giving. The Greens have a simple proposition: if you're not getting paid for it and it's not reasonable then you shouldn't have to be available outside of work hours. It's a pretty reasonable proposition that I think most people in the country would agree with, because time outside of work is critical for recharging and spending time with your family and friends, and work can wait until the next day when you're back at work. Of course there might be instances where there's an emergency or immediate contact is needed, and this legislation that we've put through the parliament envisages that and allows for that. This is always the way: every time workers get a new right, the Liberals come in here and threaten people and then threaten to take it away.

I want to place and record my thanks to Senator Barbara Pocock, who has pushed for some time for the right to disconnect. Senator Barbara Pocock chaired and led the country's first ever national Senate inquiry into work and care, which looked at how we could update our laws to recognise that people outside of work hours often have caring responsibilities and family responsibilities and update our laws protect that time, because protecting that time is important. Work has bled far too much into people's time outside of work, and we need to update our laws to give people protection. Senator Barbara Pocock pushed for greater protection for workers and carers, and she moved this amendment on the right to disconnect, on behalf of the Greens, in the Senate.

I want to thank the government for their support, and I want to thank the minister, and the minister's staff as well, for working constructively on this. The provisions that ultimately got through strike a pretty good balance. We introduced legislation back in March. We perhaps might have done it a bit differently then, but I think the legislation has been improved through discussions, including discussions with other crossbenchers. I want to place on record my thanks for the constructive way in which the minister, the minister's staff and the crossbench approached these negotiations.

We now have a situation where people know that, if they find themselves in front of the commission, they can't have their conditions cut. They know that they can ignore a call that comes after hours if it can wait until the next day. These are rights that people need, and that's why these amendments should be supported. I hope the opposition reconsiders between now and the next election, because, I tell you what, people want the right to switch off when they clock off. It is incredibly popular because it is necessary, and the Greens are proud to have secured it.

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