Motions

Underemployment and Insecure Work

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (11:01): I move:

1. That in the opinion of this house a joint committee be appointed to investigate and report on—

(a) the prevalence of underemployment and insecure work in South Australia;

(b) the reasons for underemployment and insecure work in South Australia and its impact on the economy, community and industrial rights and conditions;

(c) the impact on the share/gig economy on employment, job security, the economy and industrial rights and conditions;

(d) how underemployment and insecure work impact South Australians'—

(i) ability or otherwise to meet the cost of living;

(ii) health, wellbeing and family cohesion;

(iii) interactions with government systems, including welfare benefits, health care and education services;

(iv) health and safety at work;

(v) retirement; and

(vi) participation in community activity;

(e) how underemployment and insecure work impacts people from a range of age groups, cultural backgrounds and abilities and women and men in different ways;

(f) what strategies could effectively assist to address the prevalence of underemployment and insecure work in South Australia and its effect; and

(g) any other matters.

2. That, in the event of a joint committee being appointed, the House of Assembly be represented thereon by three members, of whom two shall form a quorum of assembly members necessary to be present at all sittings of the committee; and

3. That a message be sent to the Legislative Council transmitting the foregoing resolution and requesting concurrence thereto.

Australia is in recession for the first time in 30 years. Unemployment is at a record high and South Australia has the highest unemployment rate in the country. On top of these bleak economic realities, successive neoliberal Coalition governments have created an inequitable economy where casualisation and precarious work have driven working families into poverty.

Wage theft has become endemic in certain industries, workers have fewer rights when it comes to bargaining with their employers and wage stagnation is making day-to-day living harder for workers, their families and the economy. The advent of the share or gig economy has further eroded wages, job security and conditions. As a result, the gender pay gap relentlessly persists and, if not addressed, it will not be closed for decades.

Women remain much more likely to be in insecure work and, working in the industries that they do, they are more likely to attract less remuneration than in those industries dominated by men. These are just some of the challenges facing many, many South Australian workers. The pandemic has not created this situation, but it has certainly exposed the shortfalls and limitations of insecure employment and heightened the risks to your livelihood should you be employed in a precarious manner.

As the impact of the COVID-19 crisis continues to be felt, we will confront these issues in an environment where unemployment is rising and where businesses may find it difficult to afford to employ the same number of people they did before the pandemic. South Australia thrives when everyone is supported and enabled to equally and actively participate in our economy and in every aspect of community life. People thrive when they are included and when they experience equality of opportunity.

We need look no further than the more than 800 hospitality and event staff employed by the publicly owned Adelaide Venue Management Corporation who were denied basic COVID-19 support when they needed it most. These workers, working across the Entertainment Centre, Convention Centre and Coopers Stadium, were amongst the thousands of hardworking South Australians left unemployed without entitlements and unable to claim JobKeeper because their employer was classed as a statutory entity. These and many other workers on insecure contracts have been left to fend for themselves by both state and federal Liberal governments.

As I have previously said, workers engaged on an insecure basis are overwhelmingly women. Recent data shows that 22 per cent of women work fewer than 20 hours a week compared with just 10.6 per cent of men. This means that twice as many women may have their JobKeeper payments reduced under changes to the stimulus program.

Many of the industries that employ women and young people are suffering terribly as a whole, including hospitality, child care, the arts, live music, education and tourism. Despite this, we have seen almost all the government stimulus directed at male-dominated industries, including the $700 million construction bailout that was rolled out at the same time the JobKeeper wage subsidy for childcare workers was cut altogether.

South Australia's unemployment rate is currently hovering at around 8 per cent. Youth unemployment sits at an extraordinarily high level and underemployment is also rife. With the winding back of federal stimulus measures and our state stimulus being the smallest in the country, it is fundamental that we thoroughly understand the labour market challenges facing South Australians.

All the issues I have outlined are further exposed by the pandemic. It is therefore imperative that, at this crucial economic juncture, we shine a light on employment insecurity and the many issues that that creates. We must find solutions to support those in our community who are underemployed, bereft of rights and entitlements, and disenfranchised from the job market.

We must think about job creation in the context of what will be needed to meet the future demands of existing and new industries and how women can be supported to take their place in those industries. We must better understand how underemployment and insecure work impact people from a range of age groups, cultural backgrounds and abilities. This examination, as I have said, must include an exploration of how insecure work and underemployment impact:

the ability of workers to meet the rising cost of living;

health, wellbeing and family cohesion;

access to government support and services;

the ability to be safe and healthy at work;

people's ability to participate in community activity; and

people's access to entitlements as they traverse jobs across low-paying industries.

As well as exploring the impact, we must consider the way forward. We must examine the availability and effectiveness of support structures and programs to assist South Australians in gaining secure work and how we can increase training and work pathways and support and empower people to traverse those pathways. We need to find ways to create secure jobs, jobs that include paid sick leave and other leave entitlements and other basic employment rights that have continuously been eroded since the federal Liberal's ill-fated WorkChoices disaster of the mid-2000s.

The COVID-19 crisis has utterly changed our state, national and global psyche, work and our economy, and our industrial landscape. However, it has also absolutely strengthened our collective readiness to embrace fairness, compassion and collaboration. Going forward, our economy will be different, as will the workforce needed to service it. It is imperative that we understand these challenges and changes and think together about:

how particular types of work should be valued;

how critical secure work is to individuals, our economy and cohesion as a community;

what role governments can play in supporting people into and out of employment;

how we can better support businesses to keep people in work;

how we can assist those who are already deeply disenfranchised in the labour market; and

how important authentic connection with one another and looking after each other is.

As we navigate through the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, these are the workforce, economic and community issues we must confront. If we do not, our economy, our community and our state will suffer. We will have higher levels of household debt. Women will continue to go backwards in the workplace and insecure work will relentlessly persist. These and other issues relating to jobs, workplace relations, the economy and our community must be addressed before any more South Australians fall below the poverty line. I commend the motion to the house.

Debate adjourned on motion of Dr Harvey.