Barbara Pocock (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

(1) Schedule 1, heading, page 3 (line 1), omit "Amendments", substitute "Penalty and overtime rates".

(2) Page 4 (after line 7), at the end of the Bill, add:

Schedule 3 — Requests for flexible working arrangements

Fair Work Act 2009

1 Subsections 65(1) and (1A)

Repeal the subsections, substitute:

Employee may request change in working arrangements

(1) If an employee would like to change his or her working arrangements then the employee may request the employer for a change in working arrangements.

Note: Examples of changes in working arrangements include changes in hours of work, changes in patterns of work and changes in location of work.

2 Subsection 65A(1)

Omit "relating to circumstances that apply to the employee".

3 Subparagraph 65A(3)(a)(ii)

Omit "the circumstances mentioned in subsection (1)", substitute "the request".

4 Subparagraph 65A(6)(c)(i)

Omit "the circumstances mentioned in subsection (1)", substitute "the request".

5 Paragraph 65B(1)(a)

Omit "relating to circumstances that apply to the employee".

6 Subparagraph 65C(1)(f)(ii)

Omit "the circumstances mentioned in paragraph 65B(1)(a)", substitute "the request".

7 In the appropriate position in Schedule 1

Insert:

Part 21 — Amendments made by Schedule 3 to the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Penalty and Overtime Rates) Act 2025

129 Application of amendments

The amendments made by Schedule 3 to the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Penalty and Overtime Rates) Act 2025 apply in relation to a request for a change in working arrangements under subsection 65(1) made on or after the commencement of that Schedule.

This bill, as it stands, is defensive. It defends something really important—penalty and overtime rates. We know that millions of Australian workers depend on these to put food on their table, and they deserve these rates. The Greens will never stand in the way of workers' rights and increases in their pay, but work is changing. The worker is changing, the workplace is changing, and what we do at work and where we do it are changing. That means we need some ambition in our workplace laws to deal with these changes and we need more ambition from Labor.

Yesterday, Labor voted down a reasonable right to request work from home for up to two days a week. We know from polls in the last two weeks that 75 per cent of Labor voters support a right to work from home and 51 per cent of coalition voters support a right to work from home. Two-thirds of all Australians want this right. They know they need it, and they want to see it in their workplaces. The Victorian Premier is doing it, and the PM has backed her in.

This week, workers in small businesses joined other workers across our country in a right to disconnect. Now all workers across the nation have an important new right, a sensible right—a right to step away from the intrusive effects of an employer who wants them on the phone on a Sunday morning. It makes their lives better, and the sky has not fallen with a right to disconnect. That came about because the Select Committee on Work and Care recommended that right with a lot of agreement across this chamber, we pushed a private members' bill and kept pushing, and, with the support of Tony Burke, we got a right to disconnect up. It was legislated. It's a great success, and a success, as we know—we have heard it many times in this chamber—has many parents; everyone wants to claim it. But the point here is this that a good thing for workers was achieved by this chamber putting workers first.

Yesterday, when Labor voted down a right to work from home, they put politics ahead of workers. They said as much. They said they wouldn't act 'at the behest of the Greens'. You can read it in the Financial Review this morning. That's putting your politics ahead of the interests of those you represent, of workers. Labor knocked back a simple, reasonable right to work from home, not because it isn't needed, not because it isn't wanted, not because it can't be done—it can be done, and it is needed and wanted—but because of politics, because it's our idea. That's putting politics ahead of what's good for workers. That's hubris. That's political pride. That's letting your political hatred get in front of what's good for workers.

Labor had the biggest majority in the other house in my lifetime, and we Greens are here in the Senate to support progressive change. Instead, they've knocked back a right to work from home, and they've knocked back something that would make a difference right now to so many women and men. With these amendments I move today, Labor gets to show whether they are here to put workers ahead of politics. These amendments I now move give Labor the chance to show whether it is in here for workers or is it in here for political advantage. Anyone who knows Labor's history knows how important the Labor Party has been for workers' rights across past centuries. Where are you now? Here is your chance to help all women and men workers across our country who are looking for increased flexibility to put their lives together.

These amendments make it a right for all Australian workers—not just those with a school-age child, not just carers, but anyone—looking for flexibility to ask for it. They can ask. They have a right to get a timely written response from their boss. They have limited ways in which they can be refused, and they have access to the right to contest an unreasonable refusal. Our amendments open up eligibility to ask for flexibility to every worker, to have the right to ask and the chance to be treated decently and have backup when they make that request.

We know that flexible work delivers enormous benefits. It helps people balance their jobs and study. It helps people look after their health, mental and physical. It helps people have a community life. It boosts workplace participation for both women and men. It helps men be more involved in their households. The evidence shows that it increases productivity. It reduces commuting time, with less carbon in our environment, and it improves wellbeing. It is good for women, it is good for men, it is good for kids and it is good for families.

This is about fairness. Flexibility should not be a privilege reserved to a particular group of people, such as carers and people with school-age kids. The truth is: workers' lives across the board do not fit neatly into narrow boxes, as set out in our current law. Of course, requests still need to be reasonable. Employers retain the ability to refuse requests on legitimate business grounds. What this change does is ensure that every worker can ask, and employers must properly consider their requests.

The world of work has changed. Technology has made remote and flexible work not only possible but, in many workplaces, utterly normal. The law should catch up with that reality and make sure every worker has the right to request arrangements that suit their lives. And, yes, this is a Greens proposal. These are Greens amendments, but this is a chance for Labor to do the right thing by workers rather than play politics just because you don't like the Greens or just because you haven't been the first to bring it up in this chamber. That's no reason to knock back such an important right that so many Australian men and women want more backup on. That's no reason to deny all workers the right to ask for and get the flexibility they need, including the right to ask to work from home—a real right with real backup.