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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-08-09 Daily Xml
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Labour Hire Practices, D'VineRipe

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (15:06): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before directing a question on the topic of state government grants to create full-time jobs at D'VineRipe to the minister representing the Minister for Employment.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: A secure job is life changing. It means security and economic prosperity for workers and their families. D'VineRipe was exposed by Four Corners in 2015 for its use of exploitative labour hire arrangements through which workers were being underpaid by as much as $5 an hour. After this, workers at Two Wells joined the union, and fought and won direct employment. However, the company has since returned to using labour hire again. This year, the labour hire company at D'VineRipe was in the media for freedom of association breaches and threats to deport seasonal workers for joining their union.

Indeed, labour hire and insecure work continues to be the model of employment at D'VineRipe, despite their commitments to the South Australian government and their ability to easily provide full-time employment to their long-term and loyal casual workforce. Indeed, D'VineRipe has now received close to $3 million in various grants from the Weatherill government for the creation of full-time jobs. In 2012, they received just under $1 million on the basis that they create at least 177 full-time jobs. Then, in 2014, they were awarded $2 million from a regional development grant to create 80 full-time jobs.

In that same year, the Premier toured the plant and announced 150 full-time jobs would be created at the Two Wells facility. However, I am informed by the National Union of Workers that today, only 70 permanent full-time jobs exist at this facility and when I met with some of the workers last week at a worker's house, they told me the story that reflects the other advice I have received from the National Union of Workers that there are 220 direct workers trapped in insecure work and an additional 100 labour hire and seasonal visa workers, with some of these workers having worked at the site for over five years but remaining casual. These workers still do not have a secure full-time job.

My question to the minister is: will he undertake an auditing of the state government grants and other contributions provided to the D'VineRipe company (formerly trading as D'VineRipe, now Perfection Fresh) at the Two Wells site to ensure that the South Australian government's grant conditions for full-time employment have been complied with? Will he report urgently back to this council on the matter?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:09): I thank the honourable member for raising this most important question about the company D'VineRipe/ Perfection Fresh and any grant programs from the government that they have benefited from in terms of employment creation. I will undertake to take this question to the Minister for Employment and seek a response on the honourable member's behalf.

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