I thank the Committee for their work and for this report. We commend the committee for their report and dissent from the committee's recommendation.
I am pleased this report accurately reflects the detrimental effect on wages and conditions that has been experienced by workers employed under labour hire contracts across certain industries.
This report also details the detrimental effect on occupational health and safety of all workers on a site, not just those employed under labour hire agreements.
Finally, the report also accurately describes the effects on communities of the reduction in local spending caused by taking wages out of their community.
My bill seeks to protect the rights of directly employed workers in industries where there is no provision for casual employment. This is based on a simple assumption – if the award does not make provision for casual employment because of the nature of the work, then using a labour hire firm to conduct an end-run around the award by supplying casuals on a labour hire agreement is wrong.
The Committee report correctly identifies the Black Coal Mining Industry Award 2020 and the Aircraft Cabin Crew Award 2020 as being subverted in this manner.
The remaining awards are included in the Fair Work Amendment (Equal Pay for Equal Work) Bill 2022 as a 'line in the sand'. While labour hire agreements are not being abused in these industries, explicitly including those awards in this legislation was designed to ensure labour hire firms do not treat these awards as a new profit centre once the opportunity for exploitation is removed from coal mining and aircraft flight operations.
I know the witnesses that were called to testify about their treatment under labour hire contracts were pleased to have the opportunity to publicly testify on this matter and I thank the Committee for that.
However, these workers were not always afforded such an opportunity.
When I was elected to the Senate in 2019, I was contacted by Stuart Bonds in the NSW Hunter region. Stuart listed case after case where black coal workers had been employed under labour hire agreements that resulted in a 40 per cent reduction in their pay. More troubling were the stories of exploitation and victimisation these workers received, especially following a safety report or physical harm.
Simon Turner testified to the committee on his terrible experience and he is one of many.
Workers like Simon tried for many years to receive justice. The mine owner and the labour hire company ignored them. The union let them down. Their local member let them down. It was only when these workers came to One Nation that progress was made.
The Australian Labor Party promised legislation to correct this exploitation in 2018. Their proposed legislation did not materialise until December 2021 and then lapsed at the election. While the government is clearly working on their version of the Fair work Amendment (Equal Pay for Equal Work) Bill 2022, the reality is we have not seen that legislation yet and it may not be brought forward for another 8 months.
One Nation believes 5 years of promises is a disgrace that calls into question the ALP's commitment to fixing exploitation through the use of labour hire agreements. It should be noted these agreements include provisions to unionise the contracted workers while sending a river of superannuation contributions to the Union that signed off on the agreement in the first place.
One Nation's Fair Work Amendment (Equal Pay for Equal Work) Bill 2022 remains the only legislation before the Parliament designed to correct this injustice.
The following sections address specific issues raised in the report.
The bill does not act widely enough
I note the examples of exploitation raised in testimony to the Committee in respect of industries in addition to the six awards listed in Fair work Amendment (Equal Pay for Equal Work) Bill 2022.
My bill allows the Minister to add additional awards by disallowable instrument where such exploitation is detected. It also allows the Minister to remove that inclusion should an industry collaboratively resolve such exploitation. This is surely best practice – only act where there is a problem and only for as long as the problem exists.
The Fair Work Act 2009 is 1100 pages long. Adding additional complication by making the provisions of Fair work Amendment (Equal Pay for Equal Work) Bill 2022 cover 700+ awards 'just in case' will needlessly add to the cost and complexity of our industrial relations system.
The bill does not make suitable definitions of key concepts
The definitions are sufficient for every submitter to correctly understand the intention of the bill. Some then went on to say the definitions were incomplete, even after correctly identifying the meaning of the words used.
The wording was chosen after careful deliberation and having mind to one reality of our legal system. Once a term is given a specific meaning, that meaning is considered as being the full meaning of that term. In effect detailed definitions are used to limit the application of a term. This allows for deficiencies in definitions to be used as loopholes to be exploited.
That is why the Fair Work Act 2009 is 1100 pages long. I do not intend to add to the disaster that Act is by playing the game so many of the 'IR Club' call for.
It is up to the Fair Work Commissioner to decide if a labour hire agreement falls under the provisions of the Fair Work Amendment (Equal Pay for Equal Work) Bill 2022 or not. Should the Fair Work Commission fail to honour the intent of the legislation then, and only then should we wander into the legal minefield of definitions that become exclusionary rather than inclusionary.
Finally on this topic, defining concepts in this bill such as equal pay further than I have is bound to fail. Each of our 700+ awards operate in many different circumstances. A clearly expressed principle is much more likely to be effective in guiding the deliberations of a Fair Work Commissioner than wording that attempts to cover every eventuality.
The fact there are so many workers getting ripped off so badly for such a long time is a damning indictment on the IR Club and the Fair Work Act 2009 itself. How about we don't keep making the same mistake and start using clear language expressing clear principles and rely on the Fair Work Commissioners to exercise their wisdom and knowledge to follow those principles in their judgements.
The bill would not act as intended
The intention of the Fair Work Amendment (Equal Pay for Equal Work) Bill 2022 is to create an additional test to be added to the many tests an enterprise agreement must pass to be approved by the Fair Work Commission. The location of this test in a new division of Section 321 of the Fair Work Act 2009 was designed to show this 'equal pay for equal work' test is a separate and distinct test not related to the Better Off Overall Test (BOOT).
The logic is simple. The Commissioner will ask if this enterprise agreement is made under a designated award, and if so, does the agreement meet the provisions of this bill.
The location and wording of the bill is fit for this purpose.
Conclusion
The supposed downsides that some vested interests attribute in broad terms without specifics come from the same people and groups who were advised repeatedly of the current unacceptable state yet did nothing to end the blight on their industries and they continue to do nothing.
The same vested interests misleadingly used averages in the Sydney inquiry to hide the facts that we have repeatedly raised illustrating the abuse some workers are suffering. This raises questions as to their intent and to the manner in which they raised these misleading statistics.
Employers who do the right thing have nothing at all to fear from this bill.
I urge the Committee not to wait for a government bill that has been promised for a very long time and is still some distance away, if it ever appears, and act to end this exploitation now. Innocent hard-working and honest workers need protection and safety and need it now.
Senator Malcolm Roberts
Member
Pauline Hanson's One Nation Senator for Queensland