Josh Dolega (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's a great pleasure to be able to stand today to speak about penalty and overtime rates. I'd also like to echo some of the words of my colleagues on this side. When I do think about why I joined the Australian Labor Party, it comes back to one thing: standing up for everyday Australians, the people who keep our country running, quietly, reliably and often without recognition.

The bill is about people. It's about workers, many of whom I meet every day in supermarkets, retail venues, hospitals or aged-care homes. I meet call centre workers. It's about people who wake up before sunrise, who work on weekends and on public holidays and who deserve to be paid fairly and compensated for the sacrifices that they make. That's why the Australian Labor Party, the party for workers, is introducing the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Penalty and Overtime Rates) Bill 2025.

This bill delivers on the Albanese Labor government's promise to protect penalty rates, and it's a promise that Australians overwhelmingly supported. The idea is simple: if you work unsociable hours—weekends, public holidays, early mornings, late nights—you often rely on a modern award safety net. Then your pay should be protected—no loopholes, just fair wages for hard work. This matters deeply to workers in Tasmania and across the country. In May 2023, the top five award reliant Tasmanian employees worked in accommodation and food services, administrative and support services, healthcare and social assistance, public administration and safety, and retail trade. Workers in these industries will benefit from this bill.

But this bill is part of a bigger picture. In our first term, the Albanese Labor government made landmark reforms to workplace relations. We've worked hard to get wages moving again. We've closed loopholes that undermine fairness, improved access to secure jobs and put gender equity at the heart of workplace laws. Labor governments have always stood up for workers. We believe in fair pay, decent conditions and safer and respectful workplaces. And we know that when workers are supported, when we lift them up, everyone benefits.

Since coming to government in 2022, we've reinvigorated enterprise bargaining, we've made gender equality and job security core principles of the Fair Work Act, we've banned secrecy clauses, we've criminalised wage theft, we've closed the labour hire loopholes, we've introduced minimum standards for road transport workers, and we've ended the permanent casual loophole. We've given casuals a proper pathway to permanent work, and, importantly, we've introduced the right to disconnect. These reforms are delivering real wage increases and better conditions.

Now this government is building on that momentum, because protecting penalty and overtime rates in modern awards isn't just good policy; it's the right thing to do, and it takes a Labor government to do it. Penalty and overtime rates are more than just numbers on a pay slip. For many of Australia's lowest paid workers, they're their lifeline. But, under the current rules, they can be rolled into a single rate that leaves people worse off. That's not fair and that's not what Labor stands for.

This bill strengthens that safety net. It ensures that workers aren't disadvantaged by technicalities or loopholes, and it does so without adding unnecessary complexity. Employees and employers can still negotiate flexibility, but not at the expense of fairness. This bill doesn't go after or unfairly treat many of the great small businesses that do the right thing and that value and reward their workers. It just protects the status quo.

Modern awards are vital to protecting workers who don't benefit from an enterprise agreement. They cover pay, hours, rosters, breaks, penalty rates and overtime. They're especially important for the workers, who are more likely to be women, who are under 35, part-time or casual. These are often the most vulnerable workers, and they deserve protection.

During recent hearings for this bill we heard stories from cleaners, retail workers and representatives from trade unions. The workers who bravely gave evidence during the hearings spoke of how penalty rates meant the difference of buying apples. It meant the difference of being able to provide for appropriate care for their children or to be able to even spoil their grandchildren. I might say, many of us in here would often take those sorts of things for granted. These workers aren't asking for much. They're asking for us to protect the Australian way of life—their penalty and overtime rates.

We do respect the Fair Work Commission's role as the independent umpire, and that doesn't change. What we want is for enterprise agreements to deliver better wages, better conditions and more productive workplaces. We want to have penalty rates and overtime rates protected in modern awards. We're starting to see really great results. More workers than ever are now covered by enterprise agreements, and those agreements are delivering real wage increases.

At the heart of this bill is a simple principle for fairness. Behind every clause in an agreement or in a modern award is a parent working night shifts to cover the school fees, a student juggling two jobs to pay their rent or a nurse pulling a double shift on Christmas Day to ensure sick Australians receive the care they need. To every Australian who's working unsociable hours: we see you, we value you and we're fighting for you.

Our plan and this bill are in stark contrast to the approach of those opposite—the party of Work Choices—who, at every chance, have attacked workers' rights and pay. For crying out loud, when they were last in government, wage suppression was a deliberate feature of their economic strategy. I note that some of those opposite have said that they support penalty rates, and maybe, individually, some do, but actions speak louder than words. All they have done so far is go after working people. I encourage all senators to support workers by passing this bill.