Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Bullying is an act of cowardice. It is the bigger kid in the playground pushing the smaller kid around and kicking them when they are down. But, in the end, it just highlights the insecurities of the bully.

I speak today in support of the motion to disallow the government's proposed Fair Entitlements Guarantee Amendment Regulation 2014 (No. 1). The amended regulation is, in every sense of the word, bullying. People working in the textile, clothing and footwear sectors are already under pressure. Many of the Australian companies in this industry are facing huge challenges from international competition, not helped by reduced tariffs. We have seen many of these local businesses close down because they are no longer viable. The workers in the sector are predominantly women, working on low wages, and they will find it extremely difficult to find work elsewhere if not supported by the government in times of need.

The contract outworkers who are targeted by this regulation usually work from home and are more vulnerable to discrimination. While they are afforded many of the same employment benefits as others in the textile, clothing and footwear industry, this would severely disadvantage these outworkers if, through no fault of their own, their employer became insolvent or bankrupt. This regulation would cut the maximum payment they received from four weeks for every year of service to a maximum of 16 weeks, regardless of the number of years they have served. This is a significant blow to workers who are already some of the most disadvantaged in our community.

Trust is such an integral quality to Australian business, as Senator Cameron pointed out. Customers trust local companies to provide a quality product and employers trust their staff to deliver. Without this trust, the local textile, clothing and footwear industry simply could not compete with overseas rivals, who have much lower overheads. We would all agree that workers should be able to trust that their work will produce proper reward. But this proposal will hit those who have been working the longest and are well into their working lives. It could even be their last job. You would hope that, if you have been a loyal employee for a long period of time—if you are an older worker who might be looking towards retirement—there will be safeguards to ensure that, should your employer go under, through no fault of your own, you get the payout you are entitled to.

These workers are skilled through a wealth of experience, but would find it extremely difficult to retrain, and have been banking on their jobs to see them through to retirement. The current scheme says to workers, 'If you find yourself in a situation, tomorrow, where all of a sudden your employer has just gone under, you knew nothing about it and there is no money there, the government has got your back.' It says, 'It's not your fault that you were loyal to your employer and that you worked for them for a long time. It's not your fault that the company has gone under. It might have been bad management decisions; it might have been illegal activity; it might have been the consequences of a shifting economy. But it is not your fault.'

But this regulation tells these workers, 'If you find yourself in that situation, we're only going to pay you a portion of what you're entitled to. We don't care about your loyalty. If the money's not there, bad luck.' It tells them, 'We'll continue to give billions in subsidies to the likes of Gina Rinehart so that she and her buddies can buy cheap fuel, but when it comes to an actual jobs plan and transitioning this country to a clean energy economy, we're going to ignore it.'

Why is the government attacking these workers? There is absolutely no evidence that the scheme is being abused. The reality is that this is nothing more than an ideological policy—a policy that was never mentioned going into the last election. This is a punch in the guts to older workers, who should be entitled to think that their loyalty is worth something. They have earned their annual leave. They have earned their long service leave. And although they would rather keep working, they have earned their redundancy payment.

The Greens are very proud to stand by these workers. It is not their fault that they have been put in this difficult situation. They are dedicated workers, and we should be giving them what they deserve. Instead, the government wants to kick them while they are down. So I say to the government: go pick on someone your own size.