Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to speak to the motion moved by the opposition to take note of all answers to questions that they asked in question time because it gives me an opportunity to address the answer given by Minister Watt to Senator Cash's question about our closing the loopholes policy. It is not unusual to hear those opposite criticise any attempt by this government to cut loopholes, to make sure people are not undercutting the wages of Australians, and to increase wages, because we know that under their government it was policy to keep wages low. They wanted to keep wages low as their economic policy.

We want to get wages moving, and that is exactly what our cut the loopholes legislation is all about. Because when you cut the loopholes that exist in the industrial relations system, we know that people have better access to better pay. The example Senator Cash asked about and the information that Minister Watt was able to give to her relates directly to one of the biggest loopholes, one of the biggest rip-offs in our industrial relations system—that is, when a group of employees agree fairly and bargain fairly with their employer to a set of wages and then that same employer uses a labour hire company to undercut that agreement. It is not just bad economics, it is not just dodgy but it is un-Australian to make an agreement and then turn your back on it. That is what is happening in legislation at the moment because our industrial relations system has a loophole that allows this to happen.

On this side of the chamber we want to cut the loophole. We want to make sure there is no loophole that allows workers' wages to be undercut, or for businesses to be undercut that are paying fair wages. We want to get that loophole out of the system. Those opposite want to keep those loopholes in the system. They are pro loophole; we are anti loophole. We are pro worker; they are anti worker. They always have been. It is no surprise. We are having a cost-of-living debate in this country. Those opposite are coming in here and asking the government to take action on cost-of-living, to do more things on cost-of-living, to make sure we are taking care of people and that they have money in their pockets. Why at the same time would they be opposed to measures and policies that would lift the wages of everyday Australians? The mind boggles. The other thing we know and I know very well is that in regional communities this labour hire rort is rife. It is a huge problem in the mining industry, a huge problem in regional Queensland. People have been telling governments for years and they told the previous government for a decade that this was a problem that needed to be fixed.

What happens when those workers are underpaid, sometimes by $30,000 or $40,000 a year? What happens when they can't take a holiday? What happens when they can't buy a house? What happens when they have to work on Christmas Day for a different rate of pay? What happens is that regional communities lose out because workers are not spending money in the local shops, they're not buying houses in the local community and they can't tell their kids that they can go to school in that regional school next year. The footy clubs lose out. That's what happens in regional Queensland when these loopholes exist. That you can come in here and defend these loopholes is in complete opposition to any idea of standing up for regional communities and regional workers, but that's what we're going to see from Senator Cash and the others opposite in the months to come. They will find every reason under the sun to try to prevent workers from getting a pay rise. They always have and they always will.

Those opposite have an opportunity to consider this legislation and the loopholes that exist in our industrial relations system. I hope that over the next couple of months Australians get the chance to hear from brokers like Ron and Simon from Moranbah and Brody from Rockhampton, who I had the pleasure of meeting a few months ago. When you listen to their stories and the impact that this has on their lives, there is no possible way that you would want to keep these loopholes in the industrial relations system. I hope those opposite listen to people like Brody, who's been on a labour hire agreement for years. He deserves better. Rockhampton deserves better. Regional Queensland deserves better. But they won't get better from those opposite. Only a Labor government will deliver legislation that cuts the loopholes.