Ms SPENCE (Yuroke—Minister for Community Sport, Minister for Youth, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (17:02): It is a pleasure to rise today to speak on the Wage Theft Bill 2020, and it is an honour to be a part of a government which is committed to stamping out wage theft in Victoria. From a very early age we are taught that stealing is wrong—and it is about time we called out that those employers who intentionally withhold wages and other entitlements from their staff are stealing. For that, they deserve to face the usual legal repercussions of doing so, because when we go to work we expect to be compensated fairly for our labour, to be paid for any overtime and to be paid penalty rates if we are working unsociable hours. We expect to receive superannuation and be granted leave when we need or are entitled to it. And yet these reasonable expectations are so often not met.

We have heard far too many stories of people being exploited in the workplace, of bosses paying their staff cash in hand to avoid paying proper entitlements and then covering it up by falsifying time sheets and payslips, of migrants and visa holders being threatened with deportation if they report being paid less than their colleagues, of staff being refused penalty rates on Sundays and public holidays but being too afraid to speak up for fear of losing their job. This is why we need these laws—to protect workers from exploitation and to send a very strong message to businesses and employers that no matter the industry, wage theft will not be tolerated and there will be serious consequences for those who do the wrong thing.

It is true that wage thieves target the most vulnerable. There is a significant power imbalance between the employer and employee when negotiating pay and conditions. This is particularly evident in circumstances of low-skilled workers, new migrants and visa holders. In these cases employees will often accept unlawful terms of employment in order to secure work. A report investigating wage theft in Australia in 2017 found that migrant workers, including international students, backpackers and other temporary migrants, are paid well below the minimum wage in at least 12 central industries. As the member for Yuroke, one of the most multicultural electorates in the state, and as the Minister for Youth and Minister for Multicultural Affairs, I speak to these vulnerable communities every day.

We know that young people under the age of 25 represent approximately 40 per cent of the casual workforce in Australia, including the hospitality, service and retail sectors. We also know that one in two hospitality workers are being underpaid, with similar figures reported in the retail sector. The facts speak for themselves. Our young people are bearing the brunt of wage theft, and sadly you only have to speak to any young person to know that this is absolutely the case.

In the context of the coronavirus, protection for these young workers is more important than ever, not only because young people are more likely to be engaged in insecure or casual employment but because the federal government’s JobKeeper program, which encourages employers to keep their staff on by subsidising their workers’ wages, is unfortunately being abused. Some bosses are deliberately withholding JobKeeper payments, forcing staff to work unreasonable hours for the program and spreading misinformation about eligibility. Over 100 young workers, particularly in hospitality and retail, have reported their bosses to the Victorian Trades Hall Council since April for misuse of JobKeeper funds.

The Young Workers Centre, which runs through Trades Hall, has been actively campaigning for the rights of young workers through the pandemic period. They assist young people to resolve workplace disputes and run an outreach program engaging school students to learn about their rights as they consider entering the workforce. The Young Workers Centre have recovered more than $1 million in stolen wages since their establishment in 2015, and I congratulate them for their recent success in securing the JobKeeper program for 200 casual staff who were unfairly denied the wage subsidy by their employers at Cotton On. It is thanks to the Young Workers Centre and the unions that so many exploited workers have eventually been granted the conditions that they are owed.

But there should not have to be a fight for these conditions in the first place, which is why before the last election we promised Victorians that if re-elected, we would make wage theft a criminal offence, and working Victorians overwhelmingly backed us in at the ballot box. This essential reform ensures that businesses know that if they are found to be responsible for wage theft, they will face criminal charges, and they will face a maximum penalty of nearly $1 million for bodies corporate and 10 years imprisonment for individuals.

Wage theft is a huge issue for members of my community. Whether it is the case of the full-time tradesman who did not receive the $17 000 of accrued annual leave and superannuation upon his termination or the business in Craigieburn that stole $20 200 of underpaid allowances from three employees, wage theft hits hard and it is felt everywhere. According to the 2016 census, takeaway food stores are the fifth-highest industry of employment in the Yuroke electorate, and as young people form a large percentage of employees within the fast-food industry it is no wonder that they are concerned about exploitation.

The Yuroke Youth Advisory Council, which helps me keep in touch with young people in my community and which I established after the 2014 election, explored how they can help their peers educate themselves around their working rights and entitlements. They conducted a public forum in 2017 where representatives of organisations in the employment sector, including the Young Workers Centre, presented a range of valuable information that will no doubt empower many young people in my community as they embark on their employment journey. Those that attended the forum then shared this information amongst their peers back at their schools and amongst their peer groups throughout the community, and the feedback I got was that they all found this to be an incredibly valuable experience and something that they learnt many lifelong lessons from that they very much valued. I thank the Young Workers Centre for their participation in that forum.

This bill will provide reassurance to all Victorians that their rights to workplace entitlements are bound by law and that there is no excuse for withholding wages or superannuation. In Victoria we believe in a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. This legislation will make sure that it is a reality for every person working, no matter where they come from, no matter how old they are or what industry they work in. Workers’ rights are human rights, and we have an obligation to protect them. We made a commitment to Victorians that our government would not tolerate wage theft under any circumstances. We are honouring that commitment and taking a giant step towards recognising that there will be consequences for doing the wrong thing. Companies and employers are not above the law. Just like we were taught when we were young, it is not okay to steal, and that applies to everyone.

I want to congratulate everyone who has been involved in this bill. I want to thank all of those speakers that have been before me—I have listened to many of them. It has been a very interesting debate. To all of my colleagues that have contributed, it has been terrific to listen to you, and I commend the bill to the house.