Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks, Senator Payman, for the question. I will attempt to come back to you as soon as I can with any specific information on the number of referrals to the police that have occurred, but what I would point out is that it took a federal Labor government to make wage theft a crime. We have known for many—as long as anyone could remember, quite rightly, employees who stole from their employer could be subject to criminal sanction, but what was the case until this Labor government came along was that employers who deliberately stole wages from their employees could not be subject to criminal penalties as they should have been. That was unfair. It was double standards and different standards between employers and employees, so the Albanese Labor government are very proud of the fact that we did change the law to make sure that employers who deliberately steal the wages of their employees can be subject to criminal punishments.

It's also worth remembering that, when we did that—when we passed those laws—they were not supported by all members of this chamber. What I remember is that members of the Liberal Party, members of the National Party and—wait for it!—the so-called battlers' party One Nation voted against laws to make it a criminal offence for employers to steal wages from their employees. Senator Bell might be smirking up there because, understandably, he wasn't a senator for New South Wales—is it? Is it New South Wales he's a senator for, or is it Queensland? A senator of New South Wales, sorry! I forget which state you're from. Senator Bell may not have been here, but we remember that One Nation voted with the Liberals and Nationals, as they almost always do, to punish workers rather than to stand up for them, and you will never get that from a Labor government.