Corinne Mulholland (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The AWU and MEU have been fighting for years for Queensland mine workers to get a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. Thanks to Labor's same job, same pay legislation, it is finally payday for labour hire workers. They are people who have been treated like second-class citizens for too long, and our unions have fought hard to right that wrong. Of course, the multinational mining companies fought tooth and nail against Labor's same job, same pay legislation. BHP even went so far as to take their fight to the Fair Work Commission—not once, but twice. The big mining company lost, and Labor's laws stood the test. The Fair Work Commission ordered that labour hire workers at three BHP Central Queensland mines get a pay rise up of up to $30,000 more. That is money that they were always entitled to and money they deserve. On the contrary, it means that they were being underpaid by $30,000 per year under the watch of those opposite. They were happy to see that happen. They were happy to see Queensland families underpaid under their watch, under their sham labour hire arrangements. Thanks to the hardworking unions, those companies now have to pay workers the same pay for the same job, full stop.