Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

First of all, I congratulate Senator Jess Walsh for advancing this matter of public importance, because it is indeed a great matter of importance to people right across this country that this government in its third term, having worn through three prime ministers, has presided over a period in Australian economic history that is absolutely characterised by wage stagnation, by growing job insecurity, and what we've come to accept in our parlance is the description of a practice of too many businesses that was, until recent times, called underpayment.

On the watch of this government, the scale of underpayment has been so extensive that it's now known as wage theft in the Australian community. So I sincerely congratulate Senator Walsh for bringing this matter forward, because Australians are feeling this pain. They are feeling it intimately every time they try to balance their budget and every time they try to get ahead, with people in insecure work reporting to Senate committees that they have no chance of getting a loan for a car, let alone a house, when their work is constantly described as 'insecure'.

This government is presiding over a period of separation between hardworking Australians who want to work or who want to work more hours and just can't and a government that's looking after people whose wealth is rising by the day as the Australian stock exchange market rises. This was part of the evidence that we received from Per Capita in the inquiry that is currently underway that deals with critical matters in industrial relations. This is what Per Capita said in their opening statement:

Despite a strong recovery in asset prices and a falling headline unemployment rate towards the end of 2020, the reality is that Australia's …

economic recovery from the impact of COVID-19—

threatens to take the shape of a 'K' rather than a 'V': that is, some people will do very well, having retained their jobs and saved money during the lock-downs last year, while others will fall deeper into insecurity and poverty.

That's what this government is presiding over: a period of time when there is a profound decline in the capacity of Australians to have secure employment and share in the economic benefit of Australia as a very wealthy nation.

I have to say that I was profoundly impacted by the evidence that we received at our hearing just last Friday. A wonderful AIN working in aged care talked about the struggle of trying to make ends meet, of not being able to spend anything in the local business economy but having to go to big suppliers of foods. She couldn't support her small businesses because she needs to buy materials in bulk or buy no-brand or home-brand goods, the very cheapest—all of the time—because her work is so reduced and so insecure.

She also spoke about the ramifications of this job insecurity, in terms of her capacity to do her work ethically. She is a carer, a carer by nature and a carer in her paid work, and her care for the elderly in aged care is critical to their health and wellbeing. She described a situation where her work is now so precarious—based on arguments that no doubt you'll hear from the others on the other side that allow efficiency for some businesses. That's what it is described as: efficiency measures; flexibility measures. Every time someone from the LNP says, 'We need to give businesses flexibility. Workers love flexibility,' it belies the reality of what they're delivering. Genuine flexibility in the workplace, with small businesses, absolutely happens. There are great small business employers. But there are also some pretty dodgy ones out there. What this government has presided over and is attempting to introduce in its IR bill is more of an attack on job security. We need job security and flexibility. We can't trade one off against the other. Flexibility can't always be loaded up as an advantage to the powerful and used as a tool of abuse of those who are in insecure work, yet that's what we're seeing.

The matter we're discussing today is a matter of public importance because good businesses that need money to move around in their local economy—good business owners who employ their staff; who know the names of their staff; who know the families of their staff; who genuinely provide flexible, great, secure work—know that their businesses are hanging on a precipice come the end of March with the withdrawal of JobKeeper. There will be more insecurity, stagnation in wages and, for the worst types of employers, such a sense of entitlement to take and make profit for themselves that they take the wages of the people they dare to call their employees. They should be more truthful. When you steal someone's wages and they work for you for nothing, or work for you for too little or work for wages that are illegal, that is a form of servitude. It's a form of modern day slavery. If the government gets its way we will have worse conditions for Australians. The government's economic agenda reveals their total unwillingness to get wages growing for Australians, their desire to cut working conditions for Australians and their refusal to legislate to protect Australians from increasing instances of wage theft.

Wages in Australia have stagnated under this government. Corporate profits have continued to grow. Average Australian workers, and that's most of us, are not getting ahead. They're feeling the pressure, they're feeling the pain, they're expressing concern, and it's manifesting itself in the data around mental health or, better put, mental ill-health—anxiety, worry, concern that they can't see a pathway forward to look after themselves and their family under this Liberal-National government. Inequality in Australia has grown ever larger, and it has come as a result of the design of this government.

On the new monstrous IR bill, which I think is aptly called 'WorkChoices 2.0', we've been taking evidence about what that will do. Let me be clear: it's a massive bill, called an omnibus bill. It has loads and loads and loads of schedules in it and proposals for change from this government. Buried deep down in the bottom are a couple of half-decent ideas, but even they are not legislatively drawn in a way that will improve the lot of Australian workers. I did not hear any evidence that has given me any sense of hope during the three hearings that we have been allowed to have, because the government only allowed three hearings—and, Deputy President, you would know the pace at which those hearings have had to advance, with half-hour slots and with people coming forward wanting to give testimony but not allowed to speak, because it is so contained by the government.

Not one of those hearings, not one bit of evidence that we've heard, gives me any hope that there will be wage growth under this government. In fact, this bill, if passed, looks like it will put downward pressure on wages. One of the key issues that prevents wage theft is proper legislation that acts as a disincentive for people to steal wages from the people with whom they've entered into a relationship as an employer with an employee. We've seen wage theft at a remarkable scale across this country. Very, very sadly, this government, if it passes this legislation, will reduce the protections that are currently in place for Queensland and Victorian workers. This is a matter of importance to the nation, and the truth should be told.