Varun Ghosh (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a mark of decent societies that they recognise that the market for human labour is different to other markets, because labour is not a commodity. The main objects of labour law and the trade union movement are to act as a countervailing force to counteract the inequality of bargaining power, which often inheres in employment relationships. It is with great pride today that I stand up in support of the Make Amazon Pay campaign, being led by the SDA and the TWU here in Australia. Amazon represents two or three aspects of what I've just spoken about—they represent a willingness to use human labour as a commodity, they represent a willingness to exploit bargaining power at the expense of Australian workers and workers around the world, and they represent a force which the trade union movement and this parliament need to stand against on behalf of Australian workers and workers around the world.

Last year, I spoke about the concerning reliance on algorithms and apps to create staff rosters within Amazon facilities here in Australia. That reliance on technology, which has little oversight from humans and little accountability, left employees with inconsistent and unpredictable work schedules. It left them anxious, with little time for family life, caring responsibilities and those things that make life joyful and permit human flourishing. The SDA national secretary, Gerard Dwyer, described it best when he said:

Amazon want anything to interrupt their algorithm so they try to deprive workers of a voice and representation. Basically Amazon want to treat their "humans" like they are robots too.

As time goes on, we see little changing. Reporting by the ABC this month shows how Amazon relies on applications and online systems in assigning work to drivers for parcel deliveries through Amazon Flex. The platform is pitched as offering flexibility to independent contractors, but the experience of drivers—or 'delivery partners', as they are called—is very different. Delivery shifts are released on an app, providing a fixed payment and a fixed time to deliver the packages. The competition for shifts is fierce, with some contractors engaging bots or AI agents to secure shifts instantly—a practice that notionally breaches Amazon's terms, but drivers say those terms are not enforced. If drivers fail to deliver packages on time for whatever reason, they are threatened with deactivation from the Amazon platform. There are reports of deactivation occurring as a result of unverified complaints or technical glitches. Communication with Amazon is also largely automated, so drivers feel powerless to challenge decisions or actually speak to someone about decisions that could devastate their livelihoods. That's not a good flexibility; that's a race to the bottom, and the people that pay the price are Australian workers.

This government has already acted to protect workers by providing new protections for gig economy workers in the closing loopholes legislation, which included the ability to challenge unfair deactivation. Two cases against Amazon Flex are currently before the Australian Fair Work Commission, and I commend the Transport Workers' Union for its efforts in seeking to apply the new standards and give them teeth.

Behind Amazon's glossy promise of convenience and affordability is a system that entrenches insecurity in work and entrenches inequality in our society. It takes fairness away from our marketplace. Workplaces like this lead to an increased risk of physical and psychological injury for Australian workers. Unstable income makes it harder for workers to plan, to have security in their financial futures and to participate in their community. The Amazon Flex example is just one of a number of recent examples where the business model has familiar patterns—control, excessive surveillance, restricting union activity, and scraping the work of people in order to make a higher profit. Amazon is one of the biggest companies in the world. Their power is significant. Thus it remains vital that campaigns like Make Amazon Pay and laws like the closing loopholes legislation are pursued in order to make sure that working people aren't exploited.

Amazon is expanding its footprint in Australia. That's not to say that technology doesn't have a place in commercial activity or in expanding productivity, but it is vital that the expansion or extension of those technologies doesn't come at the expense of working people. And that's why it's so important to make Amazon pay—pay its fair share of taxes; pay a liveable wage to the people who work for it, whether it classifies them as workers or contractors; and pay attention to the laws and regulations of Australia.