Community Services Industry (Portable Long Service Leave) Bill 2019

Spoke in support as committee chair, highlighting the structural labour mobility in the community services sector that prevents workers from accruing long service leave and noting the scheme's levy rate of 1.35 per cent is lower than ACT and Victorian schemes.

“This scheme does not increase what employers are actually required to provision; it just changes the freedom they currently have in regard to how that provisioning occurs and fundamentally increases the number of employees who will be able to access those entitlements.”— 2020-06-17View Hansard

As Minister for Industrial Relations, moved the second reading and commended the bill as delivering on a 2017 election commitment. Detailed how the portable long service leave scheme would benefit 45,000 community services workers, most of whom are women, who struggle to accrue long service leave due to short-term funding arrangements.

“This is a momentous day for workers in the community services sector. The portable long service leave scheme to be established under this bill will, for the first time in Queensland, allow community services workers to accumulate service across the community services sector as a whole.”— 2020-06-16View Hansard

Announced the LNP would oppose the bill due to the government's wage freeze amendments for frontline public servants, arguing the government had treated public servants with contempt by breaking legally binding enterprise bargaining agreements.

“Because of this confusion, because of the contempt that the public servants have been treated with, because of the hard work that our public servants have been doing, particularly over the last three months, because of those frontline people who in lots of ways have risked their own lives for Queenslanders and because an agreement is an agreement, the LNP will be opposing Labor's wage freeze for our frontline public servants.”— 2020-06-17View Hansard

Stated the LNP would support the portable long service leave provisions of the bill, acknowledging the benefits for community services workers. However, strongly criticised the 51 pages of government amendments tacked onto the bill covering unrelated matters including youth justice, public sector wages, and quarantine costs, arguing they should have been a separate bill referred to committee. Moved an amendment to refer the bill back to committee for examination of the amendments, which was defeated.

“The LNP, as I said, does not oppose these additional arrangements to support workers in the community services industry. These entitlements will improve job security and importantly encourage more female participation in the workplace.”— 2020-06-16View Hansard

Spoke in support of the bill's youth justice amendments toughening bail laws, arguing the changes make it crystal clear that if a young person poses a risk to community safety they must be refused bail.

“The amendments change the current test from 'may' keep a child in custody to 'must' where there is an unacceptable risk of the child committing an offence that endangers the safety of the community or the safety or welfare of a person and that risk cannot be adequately mitigated with bail conditions.”— 2020-06-17View Hansard

Acknowledged the importance of portable long service leave for community services workers but opposed the bill due to the government's wage freeze amendments, which he described as an insult to frontline staff.

“The amendments that the Minister for Education and Minister for Industrial Relations tabled only last night—indeed some 51 pages of amendments inserted into a bill that is only 77 pages long—are an insult to Queensland's hardworking frontline staff including our nurses, teachers, ambulance officers, health professionals and others including serving members of the Queensland Police Service.”— 2020-06-17View Hansard

Spoke in support of the bill, noting the community services industry provides critical support for vulnerable Queenslanders and that workers in the sector experience high mobility making it difficult to accrue long service leave.

“The introduction of a portable long service leave scheme will provide community services workers with a unique benefit and encourage skilled and experienced workers to join and remain in the industry long term.”— 2020-06-17View Hansard

As shadow police spokesman and former police officer, opposed the bill's wage freeze amendments, arguing police and other frontline workers who risked their lives during COVID-19 deserve to have their legally binding enterprise bargaining agreements honoured.

“A deal is a deal. We are calling on the government to support that, but also making a commitment that should the government barge this legislation through, which they often do, and should we become the government on 31 October we will not be looking to reverse the next deal in relation to the deferral.”— 2020-06-17View Hansard

Spoke as a former principal in support of portable long service leave for community services workers, noting from personal experience that workers who supported her students and families across multiple employers could never accrue long service leave entitlements.

“Those workers I supported and who supported me through my career were working for a number of different employers, a number of different agencies, and because they did not have the fortune that I had of working with one single department they were not entitled to the long service that I was entitled to.”— 2020-06-17View Hansard

Opposed the bill on the basis that the 51 pages of late amendments represented an abuse of executive power, arguing the wage freeze undoes legally binding agreements and fails to achieve genuine budget repair.

“No budget in Queensland equals no plan for Queensland's budget. This state government has not been transparent about the books. It has not been transparent about what will be expended in the next 12 months. No transparency in the hands of the powerful leads to abuse, which is what we see here.”— 2020-06-17View Hansard

Spoke in support, focusing on the youth justice bail amendments which will make it crystal clear that young people who pose a danger to the community must be refused bail, and highlighting the government's $550 million investment in youth justice.

“This legislation makes it clearer for the police. This legislation makes it clearer for the courts. This legislation makes it clearer for the community. The community must be safe and protected from offending.”— 2020-06-17View Hansard

Expressed strong support for portable long service leave but announced he could not support the bill due to the government's inclusion of the public sector wage freeze amendments, which he described as morally, industrially and economically indefensible.

“It is genuinely staggering that Labor has moved so far to the right that it has now been outflanked on the left by these bleeding hearts of the LNP.”— 2020-06-17View Hansard

Supported portable long service leave from personal experience struggling to get recognised long service across health sector employers, and spoke in support of the youth justice amendments ensuring repeat offenders who pose a serious risk must not get bail.

“To be more specific, it ensures that a person who poses a serious risk to the community must not get bail. We are going after the hardcore group of repeat offenders who commit a high percentage of youth offences.”— 2020-06-17View Hansard

Supported the bill as continuing Labor's track record of delivering for workers, noting many community sector workers have worked 10 years with the same client but could not access long service leave due to changing employers.

“Many community sector workers have worked 10 years with the same client, yet, until this bill passes today, they have not been entitled to long service leave because it is insecure work and employers keep changing.”— 2020-06-17View Hansard

Supported portable long service leave as critical reform for the feminised, casualised community services sector, while acknowledging the wage deferral was a difficult decision but defending the government's overall record on public sector wages and conditions.

“What the minister and the Palaszczuk Labor government have done through this mechanism is to underwrite a condition that is critical and important and seeks to address the erosion of employment conditions within the Australian workforce generally.”— 2020-06-17View Hansard

Supported the bill as fairly enhancing working conditions for community services workers who help vulnerable Queenslanders, noting these workers are motivated by love of community rather than pay but deserve long service leave recognition.

“We know that workers in the community services sector have a tough job working to help vulnerable Queenslanders during the most difficult period of their lives.”— 2020-06-17View Hansard

Spoke as Premier in support, describing the bill as delivering a basic entitlement to unsung heroes in the community sector and defending the wage deferral as necessary given the economic impact of COVID-19.

“This delivers a basic entitlement to our unsung heroes in the community sector. The bill establishes a system where long service leave will accumulate for Queensland's 45,000 workers in non-government organisations.”— 2020-06-17View Hansard