Employers who deliberately underpay workers could find themselves imprisoned under the government’s proposed labour hire overhauls.
But with only weeks to go before Scott Morrison is expected to call an election, the Coalition might have left itself too little time to legislate any changes before going to the polls.
The outgoing minister for industrial relations, Kelly O’Dwyer, announced the government would accept, in principle, all 22 recommendations of the migrant workers’ taskforce report, which includes criminal sanctions for deliberate exploitation of workers.
“The Coalition has no tolerance for those who repeatedly and deliberately underpay workers, whether they are an Australian citizen, or a worker on a visa,” O’Dwyer said.
“… Only the most serious and egregious cases would be subject to criminal penalties, not employers that accidentally or inadvertently, do the wrong thing.”
The government also committed to a national labour hire registration scheme to “reduce worker exploitation and drive behavioural change among labour hire operators in high risk sectors”.
?High risk sectors’ include security, service, food processing and packaging and horticulture. Labour hire firms found to have flagrant disregard for the law could have their registrations to operate cancelled, putting them out of business.
The government’s response was largely welcomed by stakeholders, including the head of the peak body for labour hire, the Recruitment, Consulting and Staffing Association of Australia & New Zealand, which said the proposed measures would help stamp out “dodgy operators”.
“Independent reviews have clearly identified industries where worker exploitation is more prevalent,” the RCSA’s CEO, Charles Cameron, said in a statement.
“We agree with the taskforce that targeting resources at enforcement and regulation in those sectors will have the greatest impact on exploitation.”
But with the budget to be handed down on 2 April, and Scott Morrison’s likely trip to Government House to ask for an election shortly after, the government may have left itself with too little time to enact any changes.
The shadow employment minister, Brendan O’Connor, said it was too little, too late.
“While the Morrison government sits idly by, wage rip offs have flourished and the reality is, that because the Liberals are running a part-time parliament, there is no genuine opportunity for these recommendations to be legislated before the next election,” he said.
The National Farmers’ Federation, which represents industries under some of the worker exploitation microscopes, also welcomed the government’s response, but said the government still needed to establish an agricultural worker specific visa, to protect both the agriculture industry and seasonal workers.
The NFF chief, Tony Maher, said the sector’s labour needs were not being met, with farmers “routinely forced to leave produce on the vine to rot because they cannot find the people power they need to get the job done”.
“The first step in protecting overseas workers is ensuring that they have entered Australia via legal and legitimate means, are working in accordance with visa conditions, and that their presence in the Australian workforce is transparent, all of which an agricultural visa would help facilitate, ” he said in a statement, adding only producers which demonstrated their compliance with the law would be eligible to access any future program.
“It would also have safeguards to ensure workers know their rights, know who to turn to, and are not bullied into thinking they have to put up with mistreatment.”
However, the Australian resources and energy group Amma has questioned the need to further criminalise industrial law.
The group’s acting chief executive, Tara Diamond, said existing criminal laws could be applied in cases where employers had been found to have deliberately exploited their workforce.
“Further, criminal charges world be counter-productive to the efficient recovery of underpaid wages for affected workers,” Diamond said.
“… We don’t believe introducing criminal sanctions into Australia’s workplace laws is the right answer, however if the government believes this path would restore that lost public confidence, limiting its application to ?only the most serious and egregious cases’ would be critically important.”
