Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a grievance debate. At the beginning of my contribution today I need to mention what has just occurred at the AWU offices in Melbourne and Sydney. Today question time in the lower house and the Senate was prioritised to be about the AFP and resourcing of the AFP. Today it was revealed in estimates that the AFP don't have the resources they require to pursue, for example, a cocaine bust. They said that instead they were guarding the PM's mansion. They felt that they didn't have the resources. That is what the AFP Commissioner said in estimates, and it's been very active today on social media. We found out that not that long ago the AFP raided the AWU offices in Melbourne and Sydney. Their purpose was to uncover materials in relation to a donation that the AWU made to GetUp!

This is a real threat to our democracy. The government has directed its commission to start this witch-hunt into unions. It has wasted millions of taxpayers' dollars on its witch-hunt of unions and of a former union leader who is now the opposition leader. This is the kind of behaviour that you'd expect in a country like Cambodia, not in a country like Australia. It is a threat to our democracy when we have a government using the powers of the state to attack its political opponents—to attack organisations, community based organisations, political organisations, environmental groups and unions. It echoes the days of Bjelke-Petersen when state sanctioned suppression in Queensland stopped people from having a voice.

Let's just put this into context. The AFP was never instructed to and never did raid 7-Eleven, who has been involved in one of the biggest wage theft scandals we have ever seen. The AFP has not raided many, if any, offices of companies that have been accused of wage theft. It is an endemic problem within our community. Employers are ripping off workers, not paying them properly. We have seen the AFP work with the Fair Work Ombudsman in some worker exploitation cases, but there has not been enough, and resourcing is an issue.

Instead of pursuing the real crimes that are causing real problems in our society, because of the choice of this government, the AFP is pursuing the AWU and their relationship with GetUp! GetUp! isn't an evil organisation. GetUp! are a group of keyboard warriors who send us emails telling us what they think about an issue. GetUp! get involved in politics. They campaign. I find it extraordinary that this government is so scared of some keyboard warriors, people who will send you emails. Guess what? You can just delete them. You don't even have to read them.

Who are the people involved in GetUp!?

They tend to be people of the Whitlam generation, people between the ages of 50 and 70, who are passionate about political issues. They are more likely to be people who are working in an office or in a public services environment because they've got access to their computer. They are engaged in online campaigning. And it's the priority of this government to go after those organisations. It is a real indictment of this government and of our democracy that they would misuse state resources this way. It means they're not focusing on the other grievance that I wish to raise and that's what's happening with this government's failed Work for the Dole program.

There are some serious issues with the management of this program and its rollout, particularly in regional Australia and in my electorate of Bendigo. The stats speak for themselves. The are 6,000 people currently looking for work in Bendigo, yet last month there were only 400 full-time jobs advertised. So, clearly, not enough work has been created in central Victoria for the jobseekers that we have. Too many older jobseekers, parents, carers and young people in central Victoria who are struggling to get back to work after becoming unemployed are being bullied, victimised and demonised by this government.

We know, through the Senate estimates process and through their own reports, that almost 90 per cent of the participants involved in the Work for the Dole program do not have a full-time job three months after participating in the program. And there's no surprise when you start to talk to some of the participants about some of the programs that they've been sent on. When you're talking about 6,000 jobseekers, these aren't the people who are caught in intergenerational unemployment. There are serious complex social issues going on within those households. They need a serious social support program.

Put that group aside, and the rest of the jobseekers are people that have quite a lot of skills—like a young man I met who got sacked by this government. He was working at Centrelink and he was one of the victims of this government's job cuts. Another person worked at the ATO and was sacked by this government when they closed the office in Bendigo. People with skills were told, 'Look, because of your age, you'll have to do the Work for the Dole program'. They were made to drive 50 kilometres outside of Bendigo. We don't have a lot of not for profits that have taken up Work for the Dole participants. They had never used heavy machinery before and were involved in doing work with a tractor. That program didn't quite work out. They were also asked to go out to the Bendigo golf course. Again, they didn't have any certificates or any actual qualified experience in lawn or in the use of lawn maintenance equipment, including these quite large heavy tractors and was asked to perform work. There are serious issues about occupational health and safety when it comes to the Work for the Dole program.

I also met an organisation connecting care and community in Kyneton. They were oversubscribed with Work for the Dole. They are one of the only Work for the Dole options that are available in the town of Kyneton. They said, 'Look, we just can't manage that many people'. They are a charity that offers an op shop and food relief. They pulled back their program and only took one participant, to ensure that person had a genuine experience. It hasn't stopped the job agencies, services providers, bombarding them constantly. 'Will you take more? Will you take more?' They received $700. Some organisations—not this one in particular—have tried to game the system. The more people they take, the more money they get towards their organisation. But the quality of the skills and the experience for those participants just isn't there.

So the particular jobseeker in this situation was travelling from Woodend to the Kyneton for the experience. They received a tokenistic gesture of money for travel and fuel expenses. The job agency didn't follow up. There was no follow-up with this particular organisation. So we're receiving complaints from both the participants in Work for the Dole and the organisations that were recruited to take people for Work for the Dole. There's no OH&S scheme. There's no support for the participants. There's no support for the coordinators. And, as we know, the program is failing to connect people with work.

One of the most heartbreaking experiences for anybody to go through is being unemployed. People do not often become unemployed by choice. It is something that is forced upon people. These are some of the comments I have received from people who have been trying to look for work in my electorate: 'It was very degrading. I had worked the same job for 25 years and then suddenly I had no purpose in life. I got quite depressed.' These are the kinds of things that people openly say about being unemployed. That is why it's so disappointing of this government to continue to attack and demonise people who are quite simply looking for work.

We've seen several bills come before this House attack people. This is wrong. In my grievance debate today, I started with the shocking situation of the AFP raiding the union offices in Melbourne and Sydney, and I finish with the shocking way in which this government is running the Work for the Dole program. This government isn't really interested in working people. It isn't really interested in connecting people with real jobs. It continues to use state resources to attack unions and to attack its opponents.