Page 2589 - Week 07 - Thursday, 2 August 2018
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commitment to deliver a secure local jobs package to deliver better outcomes for workers in businesses and organisations that do work for the territory.
The bill and code set out the government’s expectations that businesses tendering for territory-funded work abide by the highest ethical and labour standards. This is not just the government’s expectation; this is the community’s expectation. Too often over recent years, we have seen evidence, both locally and nationally, of employers entering into sham contracting arrangements, exploiting visa workers, and avoiding their industrial, workers compensation and taxation obligations.
In 2017, the Fair Work Ombudsman paid a return visit to 80 ACT businesses that had previously been found to be non-compliant with their obligations. On this return visit, 40 per cent, 32 businesses, were still non-compliant. In January this year, the ombudsman announced that more than $27,000 had been recovered from southern Canberra businesses on behalf of employees after an audit prompted by a high proportion of requests for assistance from young workers.
This government and our community believe in fairness. We believe that the key to building a better Canberra is to provide opportunities to the people and businesses that do their part to make this city a better place to live. As the Chief Minister said earlier this week, workers deserve fair pay and secure entitlements. They have the right to organise and be represented by their union.
This is not just what we believe, Madam Speaker; it is the law. In crafting this bill and the subordinate instrument of the secure local jobs code, the government has been mindful of the limits of our authority as a territory. We do not have the capacity to make operable industrial relations law, except in specific areas such as work health and safety.
The ACT government cannot change the rules, Madam Speaker; it will take a federal Labor government to do that. The ACT government cannot restore penalty rates; it will take a federal Labor government to do that. The ACT government cannot abolish the anti-union Australian Building and Construction Commission and the code for the tendering and performance of building work; it will take a federal Labor government to do that.
But the ACT Labor government will always stand up for workers where it is in our power to do so, ensuring as far as possible that they can go to work and be treated with respect, be paid fairly and go home safely to their families at the end of each day. One of the ways we will achieve this is by using the government’s purchasing power to demonstrate the standards we expect to see across the economy.
While this approach supports and protects workers on government projects, it is important to emphasise that it also rewards businesses that do the right thing by their workers. Creating a transparent, well-governed pre-qualification regime provides ethical employers with the opportunity to undertake territory-funded work over dishonest and unscrupulous businesses. We will make our expectations clear and will provide support for territory entities—directorates and agencies—and for businesses and organisations to understand the process and comply with it.
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