Senate debates

Tuesday, 23 February 2021

Matters of Public Importance

Job Security

5:33 pm

Photo of Anthony ChisholmAnthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, too, thank Senator Walsh for putting forward this MPI. I think it goes to the fundamental failure of this government and it sums up their terrible record over seven years. That record is of failure to address wage growth. It is of failure to address the growing insecurity of work. It is of failure to deal with the increasing incidence of wage theft. Indeed, after seven years of this LNP government, their record is a sad record. I want to consider that record in detail because, when we look at the record of this government over the last seven years, there is a lot of detail to understand when it comes to these issues.

When it comes to wages growth, according to the OECD—and I know Western Australian Liberal senators have a lot of faith in the OECD at the moment—real wages in Australia have declined by 0.7 per cent since the Liberal-National coalition were elected in 2013. That's their record after seven years in government. In 2019—so before the pandemic hit—Australia ranked third last out of 35 countries for wages growth. So even in the year before the pandemic hit the record of this government was a terrible one. It has been a miserable seven years for Australian workers and their families, in particular for those looking to get ahead and build a better future for themselves.

Sadly, the government's record on insecure work is no better. Even pre the pandemic we were seeing insecure work skyrocket. In the travels I do, in particular through regional Queensland, I come across so many people who have been impacted by the use of labour hire in their industry. It is absolutely rampant at the moment. I talk to people who are working side by side doing the same work, but one of those workers is earning 30 to 40 per cent less than their permanent counterpart next door. We exposed some of this during the Senate hearings into the bill put forward by the government. Ultimately, the use of labour hire, as I've observed it through regional Queensland, is actually being used to drive down the wages and conditions of all workers. That's the ultimate game of those who want to bring it in: they want to drive down the wages and conditions of all workers.

When it comes to wage theft, we have a federal government that has done nothing for seven years. Senator Abetz tried to say they have zero tolerance. What he fails to talk about is what they've done for the seven years they've been in power. He highlighted some of the recoveries they've made. Instead of trying to recover money, why don't you try to stop wage theft? That's actually the power of the government. You have the ability to do things to stop this from happening. They say nothing on that because they have no record they can point to after seven years. That is despite so many examples that have come before us, such as 7-Eleven and the outrageous attack on the workers in the employ of that company.

Now, when Australians want to look forward to emerging from the pandemic in a stronger position, when they want something to be optimistic about in the future, the government offer up more of the same. Their IR changes will undermine the pay and conditions of workers. They do little to address the rampant use of labour hire that is prevalent in so many parts of Australia but particularly, I know through my experience, in regional Queensland. They do nothing to create secure jobs with decent pay. What could be more important for Australian families at the moment, as they rebuild after being impacted by a pandemic, than to have a secure job with decent pay? They want something they can plan for the future on, yet this government continues to offer insecure work, not changes that are going to lead to better pay for those Australians. It is consigning more Australians to more years of the same, with more casualisation and insecure work.

The government's proposals on wage theft are weak. Compared to what some of the state Labor governments have been doing to outlaw wage theft, the government have been slow to move, despite all the evidence that has been presented, and, when they do move, it is still weak. They are a government with a shocking record when it comes to wage growth, insecure work and wage theft. After seven years they are offering no solutions to these problems. The best they can do is more of the same. There's no doubt that the Australian people are looking for an alternative. They deserve so much better on these issues than what their federal government has put up so far.

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