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

When companies are so strongly opposed to unions, it's often because they've got something to hide. Amazon, the second-largest online retailer in Australia, is one of the worst offenders when it comes to worker exploitation, tax evasion and disregard for even the most basic levels of human dignity. It's time to make Amazon pay: pay their fair share of tax, pay their workers fair wages and pay their workers the respect that they deserve.

Amazon's abhorrent practices undermine the democratic principles at the heart of our great nation. Their systemic exploitation of workers and their tax avoidance don't just hurt workers; they undercut fair, proud Australian businesses who do the right thing. The worst part is that these tactics are deliberate. In the US, Amazon have spent tens of millions of dollars on anti-union consultants—the most of any company—and they've imported those heinous tactics here to Australia. They've actually called police to block union officials from inspecting conditions, and they've sacked dozens of drivers who dared to speak up.

To Amazon, workers are just a number, an expendable cog in the corporate greed machine designed to line the pockets of the C-suite and shareholders. But, unlike those opposite, who seek to entrench wage suppression and crush workers' rights, the Albanese Labor government is doing the opposite. We've delivered multiple reforms to improve workers' rights, including world-leading closing-loopholes reforms, protecting casual and gig workers and delivery drivers, and strengthening our procurement rules. It's time to make Amazon pay.