Address to Finance Sector Union National Congress
I begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which we meet and I pay my respects to their elders past, present, and emerging.
I’m proud to lead a government that will give Australians the chance to recognise Indigenous Australians in our Constitution.
What a moment of national unity it could be. What a moment of unity I believe it will be.
And, like so many of the important turning points in our national story, the union movement will play a crucial role.
The union movement has a proud history of supporting Indigenous Australians in their struggles for recognition and equality.
It was the union movement that sent food and supported the great strike in 1966 when Vincent Lingiari led the walk-off at Wave Hill.
You were part of the oxygen of the cause. This is the abiding instinct for justice, equality and the fair go that is the very heart of the union movement.
I know we can count on your support when later this year all Australians will be asked to vote to recognise and provide a voice for the oldest continuous culture in the world
As a proud former member of the Commonwealth Bank Officers Association – one of the predecessor unions of the mighty FSU – it gives me great pleasure to address this conference in Ballarat.
I’m sorry that weather has intervened to make this a virtual address.
It must be said that as a Labor Prime Minister, it’s good that you are meeting in the birthplace of John Curtin – one of the greatest leaders our country has ever known.
Even in the depths of World War II, Curtin had the courage and the determination to hold on to hope. Not just to secure our nation at a time when the world had been turned upside down, but to have the sheer audacity to look ahead.
Not just to win the war but to win the peace, to give Australia the best chance to build a better future when the war was finally at an end.
As I look at all your faces on the screen, I think back to another time when the world was turned upside down.
When I had the privilege of addressing your conference by Zoom in 2021, one of my priorities was to acknowledge an important truth: that so many of you and your fellow members kept us afloat during; the pandemic.
You played an important role in keeping the economy running in time of such deep and sometimes overwhelming challenge.
You made sure that Australians could access the financial services that were, in so many ways, a lifeline in the storm.
And, after everything we went through together as Australians, the fact that we are in as good a shape as we are is, without question, thanks in part to you.
It can be safely said that my career as a bank employee wasn’t a long one. But it gave me some insight into the crucial role FSU members play in their local communities – even if some of my references might be just a little bit on the retro side.
When I was a bank employee in the 1980s most retail customers were still using passbooks. Banking was hands-on and face to face. Regular interaction with customers was a key part of the experience of working for a bank.
So much has happened since those days that to describe it as a technological revolution would be a radical understatement. Nevertheless, what remains absolutely crucial in the finance sector – what is still at its very heart – is the human element.
Whether the roles are public-facing, or back office, the finance sector relies on the professionalism, dedication and hard work of members of the FSU to function.
That is why the Government I am so honoured to lead believes that workers and unions like the FSU need to be supported in their aspirations for good, secure jobs with decent pay and conditions.
Friends, we have not wasted a minute since coming to Government.
In just over 12 months, we have delivered major improvements for workers and their families.
We have banned pay secrecy clauses, which have been used to suppress wages, particularly for women.
We have introduced strong protections against sexual harassment, including a new user friendly process to obtain a stop harassment order from the Fair Work Commission.
And now, for two years in succession, we have successfully argued for a wage increase for workers on the minimum wage.
Last Friday’s decision by the Fair Work Commission to increase the minimum wage by 8.6 per cent, and to increase awards by 5.75 per cent is a real, meaningful win for workers.
These are record rises at a time when people are doing it tough.
Taking pressure off families. Respecting hard work.
That’s what happens when we have a government that backs workers.
Who can forget the former Government saying the sky was going to fall in if Australia’s lowest paid workers were paid a modest $1 per hour wage increase?
I carried a $1 coin with me through the election campaign – and I still have it.
We are also proudly funding a 15 per cent increase for aged care workers. I’ve been meeting with aged workers and what they tell me in no uncertain terms is just what a concrete difference it will make in their lives.
The chance to have conversations like that is one of the great privileges of being Prime Minister – and a reminder of why all of us in the Government are in the job.
After a decade squandered under the previous Government, working Australians now have a Government that actually has their back. A Government that works alongside unions like yours to make sure we get the best results we can.
We have changed the laws to make it easier for workers to collectively bargain, including the ability to bargain on a multi-employer basis.
We have made gender equality and job security part of the Objects of the Fair Work Act, and that includes the positive duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment.
We have introduced family and domestic violence leave – a crucial development that your union campaigned so hard for.
We have made it illegal for employers to advertise for workers below the award rate.
The new secure jobs, better pay bargaining laws are helping get some of the bigger employers to the bargaining table.
We’ve been busy – we’re not just there to occupy the space. But I also recognise there is still much to do.
That is why later this year we will be delivering on our commitments to close loopholes used to undermine decent wages and conditions.
We are legislating:
- Same job, same pay, because you shouldn’t be paid less simply because you work for labour hire;
- An objective definition of casual employment, because workers should have access to job security if they want it;
- Minimum standards for gig workers, because 21st century technology should not mean 19th century working conditions;
- And we are going to make deliberate wage theft a criminal offence, because worker exploitation will simply not be tolerated by this Government.
As a Government we understand that many working families are doing it tough.
We inherited a mess from the former Government, and while this can’t be fixed overnight, we are laying the foundations for a better future
In the recent budget we delivered almost $15 billion in cost of living relief, targeted to those who most need it.
We’re making medicines cheaper for 6 million Australians, and tripling the incentive to bulk bill so more people can see their GP for fee.
All of this is aimed at taking pressure off people, while not adding pressure on inflation.
Our approach to governing also involves a commitment to raising productivity, in particular, by improving the participation rates of women in the workforce.
Measures like our cheaper childcare package will result in around 1.2 million families benefiting from cheaper child care from 1 July.
Measures like our 180,000 fee-free TAFE courses, which have had an enormously positive response, with women making up the majority of new enrolments.
And last month, we announced an additional 300,000 free TAFE places.
Measures like increasing entitlements to paid parental leave to 20 weeks as of July 2023, progressively increasing to 26 weeks by 2026.
And we will just keep adding to that list.
We have begun the way we will continue. And as we do, we are guided by the values that we share – your union and every single member that makes it what it is and the Australian Labor Party, which grew out of the union movement and will always work as a proud and committed partner of the union movement.
The world keeps changing, but our core values do not.
All of us are working to improve the lives of our fellow Australians, and to build a better future.
A future that we strive for together. A future that we enjoy together.
I want to thank you for the warm welcome you have given me, and wish you all the best for the remainder of your conference.