MINISTERS STATEMENTS: LABOUR HIRE LICENSING SCHEME

Mr PALLAS (Treasurer) (12:23:37) — I rise to update the house on Victoria’s first ever labour hire licensing scheme. It is going to clean up the industry, and it is going to put the interests of workers first. It is based on a fundamental principle—that is, of course, that workers should earn a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. I want to thank the former Minister for Industrial Relations for the great work that she did in establishing a move towards this. The basic principle of a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work is one that those opposite do not believe in. We know they have fronted this Parliament and they have waxed lyrical about how this government does the right thing by workers, although in their minds, of course, it is the wrong thing. Instead of supporting these vital laws let us never forget that they voted against them. That is not surprising because the Leader of the Opposition, as we know, is no friend of workers. When those opposite were last in government what we saw were some 4200 public servants lose their jobs. Let us not forget that they went to war with our paramedics as well. They cut our vital services. By contrast, this government is focused on not only creating jobs—with 440 000 jobs created across this state—but also creating good jobs with fair conditions. Our labour hire scheme is part of our zero‑tolerance approach to the exploitation of Victorian workers. With all the recent resignations from cabinet in Canberra, of course, Scott Morrison may soon be looking for labour hire to fill his ministry. He should well be aware that under our scheme, labour hire services will be required to hold a valid licence, and businesses that breach these arrangements using unlicensed providers will pay up to half a million dollars in fines. For Scott Morrison, he might struggle to meet the minimum competence level.