Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Amazon is one of the richest companies in the world, and it's driving a global race to the bottom of labour standards and tax avoidance. The space buccaneer Jeff Bezos sits on US$162 billion dollars while his workforce in Australia and around the world are pushed beyond their limits. To take on a global giant like Amazon you need a global movement. That's why the first ever Summit to Make Amazon Pay was held in Manchester last month. The summit drew Amazon workers, unions, civil groups, regulators and parliamentarians from around the world. As UNI Global Union's general secretary, Christy Hoffman, said, we must use 'our collective power to end Amazon's brutality towards workers and its impact on our communities'. We're taking on Jeff Bezos through the closing loopholes bill. Amazon hires flex drivers as subcontractors in order to pay them less than the minimum wage, and warehouse workers are labour hire casuals on 28 per cent less pay than direct employees. Our legislation closes the Bezos loopholes.

When we talk about the cost of living, this is where you see who stands with whom. We stand with thousands of Australian Amazon workers who are being squeezed. The Liberals and Nationals stand with corporate buccaneers and the loopholes they use to rip off Aussies. They stand with Joyce, Goyder and the Qantas board and the labour hire loophole. When there's a loophole that bad employers can use to rip off people, you can be sure that the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Dutton, will be there to back it in. Good employers are left behind, because the only plan the Liberals and Nationals have for our economy is low wages, insecure work and massive profits for foreign corporates, all at the expense of hardworking Australians.