Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. Minister, what is the labour hire loophole that the Albanese Labor government is acting to close?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Paterson, who's been making speeches about this issue for a very long time. When people ask what 'same job, same pay' is about, the best way to explain it is that we're trying to close a labour hire loophole. It's not the concept that was depicted in some ads I saw last week where, somehow, some employers might have to pay somebody who's been there for six years the same as someone who's been there for six months. That's something that is not government policy, that the government is not legislating and that I'd never though about before. Now that I've thought about it and seen the ads, it's a really bad idea.

But there is a loophole that needs to be closed, and it's this. When you have an enterprise agreement in place and you have agreed that this is the rate of pay that is appropriate for each classification, the employer should not then be able to use a labour hire company to undercut that rate of pay. People say, 'What does this mean for productivity?' It means the employer has already agreed in the enterprise agreement that that's the productivity value of the work and, having agreed to that, then wants to go off and use a labour hire company to undercut what they have already agreed is the value of that work. That loophole needs to be closed.

Senator Cash said in an interview last week: 'Show me where the loophole is and then close it.' That's where the loophole is. Most employers aren't on enterprise agreements. For those who are on enterprise agreements, most employers aren't using this loophole. This is not something that ricochets in a massive way across every wages budget across the economy. For those employers who are using it, it results in a radical cut in the pay for people who work there and creates a situation where you have people working side-by-side, who've been there for the same length of time, who are doing the exact same job, often in the same uniform and working to the same supervisor being put on different rates of pay. Why? Because there is a loophole that says, 'Well, technically, you're employed by someone else, so we can ignore everything that has been agreed to.'

There are a series of loopholes that undercut wages. If a worker steals from the employer it's a crime, but if the employer steals from the worker it's not. That loophole needs to be closed and wage theft needs to be made unlawful. It's a loophole that you can be working for a shop riding your bike delivering and have the protection of the awards system and all minimum rates of pay, but if you have the same lack of power while working on a gig platform you have no right to minimum standards at all. That is a loophole and it needs to be closed. (Time expired)

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.