Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We know that the gig economy is both responding to and shaping our changing world. In many respects, that has been good for consumers, with cheaper services, greater choice and lower costs. But what price are we really prepared to pay for this convenience? What we're seeing across our country is a race to the bottom. We're seeing the hard-fought-for industrial rights of Australians being undermined, and that's bad for workers, it's bad for employers and it's bad for this country.

A survey by McKellar of over a thousand gig workers showed that, despite the promises of flexibility, low pay and fear of deactivation are pressuring workers to work long hours, to work during peak times and to rush. And for all that trouble, two-thirds of full-time workers are earning less than the minimum wage—workers like Davis, who I had the opportunity to meet with, alongside the TWU, in parliament this week. Davis is a food delivery worker in the gig economy in Melbourne. Despite putting in substantial hours and effort, he told me this week that his average hourly earnings are just $6.50. This is not okay. It is not acceptable in a country like Australia, where we have put blood, sweat and tears into an industrial relations system which should protect workers and which we should be proud of. We need change and we need reform, and I'm proud to stand side-by-side with the Transport Workers' Union and the SDA, industry and workers until we deliver it here.