Wednesday, 8 June 2022

Bills

Child Employment Amendment Bill 2022

Second reading

Debate resumed.

Mr FREGON (Mount Waverley) (14:51): I think where we left off, member for Mordialloc, I was just discussing a conversation I had with Andrew Rozinszky down at the Melbourne Taekwondo Centre in my patch. It also happens to be my club, although I must admit I have not had time to be there for the last 3½ years. One of the ways that they run the club is that when the juniors get their junior black belt, which is usually around the age of 12, part of their responsibility to the club is to then volunteer their time to assist in training the little ones. I have witnessed this within my own family. My daughter did this when she got her junior black belt. It really encourages that responsibility in the younger members of our society to pass on their knowledge. It benefits the little ones because they can see that there are some young people a little bit older than them that have some authority and some responsibility, and they can see where their practice and training is heading. But obviously in those circumstances we want to make sure that that relationship is safe and secure.

There has been a permit system that has been operating for quite some time. Andrew was mentioning to me that that is quite onerous and that for each of those children, and there are a number of them, they would have to go through an individual permit. So I was very happy to see in this bill that we are removing that individual permit scheme and replacing it with a licensing scheme that will be driven by the premises itself or the business itself. In the case of martial arts, this will be under the general system. There is a separate licence for the entertainment industry, and others have spoken about why that is completely suitable. But for businesses like small clubs, having less red tape and less administration in the normal practice of running their business can only be a help, especially after the last couple of years, which have been tough for everybody.

The new licensing system came up during consultation as a way of improving the efficiency and responsiveness of the child employment permit system. The majority of those permit applications were for employers engaging children in the entertainment industry, such as casting children, as others have said, but some obviously are for things like martial arts clubs. We are changing this to a new licensing system which will introduce a scheme that is more friendly, targeted and risk based and will allow the business owner to have one licence. I think for the general system that will be every two years, and then they will upload the names et cetera of the children with parental consent to a portal system.

I believe the opposition’s lead speaker raised some questions about how we let businesses know and how they know what their responsibilities are. These are all very valid questions. The system is commencing from 1 July 2023, which provides sufficient time and opportunity for stakeholders and industry participants to achieve their compliance and also allows for the Wage Inspectorate Victoria to consult widely and to inform businesses or the entertainment industry, those people who are involved, of their obligations and assist with the process. So I think in general, from my discussions, this will be well received.

Just in closing I note that this bill also clarifies the extent of work experience people. Without acknowledging anyone in the gallery, I would like to just mention that at the moment we have a work experience young person from Mount Waverley Secondary College currently helping out in the office of Mount Waverley district by the name of Georgia Kaminis, who is doing a fantastic job, and I thank her for her assistance. It is a serendipitous day that we have people who are affected by the law that we are passing who are sitting and witnessing this law being passed as they go on to, I am sure, bigger, better, brighter things in the years to come.

Look, this is good law. I am glad that the opposition are supporting this. I look forward to seeing it pass in both houses and come into practice in a year’s time for the betterment of all.

Mr RIORDAN (Polwarth) (14:57): I rise this afternoon to talk about the Child Employment Amendment Bill 2022, which the opposition broadly agrees with.

Mr Richardson interjected.

Mr RIORDAN: It is not an issue that I am going to get fired up with, member for Mordialloc, and the simple reason is I am a product of child labour. Like many contributors today who have talked about their times at Pizza Hut and others, I grew up in a family business. I represent an electorate that has the largest percentage of self-employed people. It is in fact a very common experience for people in my electorate. Of course one of the great products of child labour in my electorate is the fact that overwhelmingly when kids turn 18 they get to buy their own car, and that is the great highlight that kids in my electorate have. When you also represent, I think, the second poorest electorate by income in the state, you also find that children and young people working are actually an integral part of the way families survive. It is how kids buy those extra pairs of sneakers. It is how kids get to go on school excursions. It is how kids get to buy their footy gear or netball outfits, and of course it provides a source of revenue for entertainment and other things. Their mobile phones are the big things that people like to spend their money on in this day and age.

Child labour in an electorate like mine is a really integral part of the way families and small businesses survive, whether you were born and bred on a dairy farm—and there is not a dairy kid that has not got in with the cows early in the morning or helped Mum and Dad with the calves—or have an existence like mine, in a shop, where Christmas time was spent unpacking boxes and carting boxes from one shed to another, learning to operate a hand truck and a wheelbarrow and probably illegally driving a forklift. But, anyway, these are the things that young people get to do, and it is important that the government does set some structure around it. It is important that people who have children in the workplace are responsible, that people are cognisant of the risks in workplaces and that they are cognisant of the capacity, concentration and other skills that young people just inherently do not have. While I am certainly a supporter of as little government as possible in people’s lives, this is one of the important roles that government can have in setting some structure and some common understanding. This bill largely goes to supporting that. I was pleased to see that rather than making it more cumbersome to have young people experience work, they are doing away with the permit system and moving to a licensing system for an organisation and a business. I think it is a very good idea. I make one proviso on that, and that is the fact that I would hope that any online portal or other mechanism that the government chooses to use for legislation is in fact user-friendly and accessible to people in places like Polwarth and, for those that do not necessarily have brilliant internet connection or are not necessarily able to avail themselves of those technologies, that they can maintain their arrangements with young people in the workplace and not be breaking the law at the same time.

Of course children in workplaces are not always just for the profit and benefit of small business or farms; children are often employed in other areas, most notably in the arts and entertainment sector where there are many opportunities for young people not only to experience work but to make a career and a life for themselves at a very young age. This legislation also deals with that and in fact does make it easier for the providers of those experiences for young people.

When we look at the changes in this legislation, probably one of the more critical elements—while the need for government to be punitive is not always something we look forward to—is that these changes flagged in this Child Employment Amendment Bill actually enable authorised officers to deal with people that may be transgressing the law or not doing things properly, whether that is intentional or unintentional, in a range of ways that are probably much more sympathetic and desirous of a system that acknowledges that sometimes mistakes happen but that that can move more quickly or over time to a situation of reprimand and punishment for someone who is perhaps a repeat offender or who is not choosing to do things properly. We see that change, whereas before the legislation allowed instant prosecution through the courts as the only alternative to someone not doing the right thing. I think this is also an improvement that will provide clarity for those in business.

I mentioned at the start my role of being in a family business. Not only was I brought up in a family business and put to work at an early age, but I did the same to my own children before I came to this career. Of course if I put the kids to work in my current position, I would end up on the front page of the Herald Sun as some sort of nepotistic employer. But back in the pre-Parliament days, the opportunity was there to use work as a way to help instruct your children on good work ethic and ways of responsibility—taking some responsibility for themselves and having some reward for their efforts are great Liberal values.

It is important that this legislation is cognisant of the fact that so many small family businesses do have all of their family members involved. Many family businesses are multigenerational. Certainly some of our best family photos at home are with my own kids working alongside their grandmother and their grandmother in the same business that had been around for a long time. They often form great childhood memories. Allowing families to continue those traditions without excessive paperwork and registration is a good thing, but it also does put the onus on families that they have a responsibility to make sure that there is supervision afoot and that basic safety requirements and other obligations exist. Sadly we see, particularly on family farms, that we can have opportunities where sometimes that supervision is not as it could be, and unfortunately we do see them as sometimes problematic and dangerous workplaces. It is important that we get the balance right, and this legislation, I think, largely does that.

We have talked about the compliance, and this legislation and the way it deals with people that do not necessarily do the right thing does it in a progressive and staged way. The ongoing purpose of the bill is to make clear the fact that children are not always an integral part of the workplace but are an inherent part of the overall work scheme. It identifies clearly that children are those under the age of 15. Young people of course are older than that, and young people can work with less supervision. But what this does is put an obligation on workplaces to make sure that if they have got a young person working, they have got supervisory mechanisms in place, whether that is someone who is of age there or other mechanisms. I think that is an important part of keeping young people safe in the workplace but also making sure that people are aware of, perhaps, the limitations that a young person or child can have. As well intended as they may be, and often are, in a workplace, it is important that those enthusiasms are kept in check from time to time.

This legislation also recognises the fact that remuneration for young people can be wide and varied and that not all children in a workplace are necessarily there to receive a pay packet at the end. There may be some other remuneration. This legislation acknowledges that to be a young person working in a workplace you are not necessarily taking a wage home at the end of the day—there may be other benefits—and it recognises that that can still mean that you are an employee. I do not think that is necessarily a bad thing. All in all, the Child Employment Amendment Bill 2022 gets the balance pretty right. I look forward to seeing if the upper house makes any other amendments, but I am happy to support it in its current phase.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Morris): The member for Frankston.

Mr EDBROOKE (Frankston) (15:07): Thank you, Acting Speaker Morris. It is lovely to see you in the chair this afternoon. Your smile always lights up my life.

The Child Employment Amendment Bill 2022 began as a review of the act. It procured a significant piece of research, which focused on gathering data about the incidence of child employment in Victoria, the types of work children were doing and safety concerns around their experiences in the workplaces they were actually in. ABS data generally only collects information on people over the age of 15 years in the workforce, and there had not been any substantial research done in this area since 2006, so it was well timed. The research found that 35 per cent of the youths that were in this study worked in retail, 21 per cent of them worked in food services industries and the entertainment industry employed almost a third of these people. It is interesting to note that a large number of employees who were unaware of parts of the act were of the belief—and it was apparently a widely held belief—that they could employ children from the age of 14 years and nine months. I had heard that too, and I did not have a chance before speaking to actually check up on that—whether it is an urban myth or it is a legacy issue from the days when we were working.

I come from a household where at the moment I have got two children who have got their first jobs. One might have served you, Acting Speaker. Young Hunter works at the butcher in Bayside shopping centre, the Butcher Club. I love that because he is a 15-year-old kid who is learning—

Ms Green: Kel Knight.

Mr EDBROOKE: He could become Kel Knight. He could be a purveyor of fine meats. He is doing really well at school—exceptionally well at school—but he is learning to work with a trade and opening his eyes to other areas in life that he might like to explore. But also he is front facing and he is doing a lot of the customer service and things like that.

I have got this scheme pretty well down pat because I have got the meat side of the grocery basket done up right there. I have not had any freebies yet, so I do not want to cause any scandals locally. But Rebel Donuts is where my 17-year-old daughter works. I am always first to jump in the car and pick her up from her shift on a Friday and Saturday night because often there are doughnuts there. You do not want them to go to waste; you do not want them to be thrown out. The Ned Kelly is just glazed with a beautiful—I think it is Argentinian—vanilla cream. It is just beautiful. It is so basic but so well done—Rebel Donuts.

But again, you are learning how to cook and how to clean and work to a standard where a boss, a manager, a line manager, a superior is actually saying, ‘This is the standard you’ve got to meet. It will not be personal, but I will call you out if you do not meet that standard, because that is what you are paid to do’. Jobs for youth, as we have heard, are very important.

We have heard a lot about Pizza Hut today, and I just want to share a quick story about the Pizza Hut down in Traralgon, where the member for Gippsland East, I think, worked. A friend of mine did work there, and down in that Pizza Hut they had a dessert bar. In those days it was a never-ending dessert bar or whatever they talk about. So we would go in, we would get the deal and we would have basically dessert for lunch, and that might have been the demise of her career at Pizza Hut in the end, but we took good advantage of it.

Essentially what this act does is review a piece of legislation that should have been reviewed. It has been a long time in the making and is acting on issues that possibly were not even thought about back in the day in 2006. In talking about 15-year-olds, there is also space for children under 15 to work in this act. Although children under 15 years are primarily regulated through the permit system, kids under 11 can undertake delivery work where their employer obtains a general industries permit, and similarly children 13 years and over are able to be employed under a general industries permit.

The changes this act makes, which come out of the review, are to set out the ages, types and work conditions applicable to child employment. It protects children from performing work that could be harmful to their health and safety, impact on their moral or material welfare or development or impact on their attendance at school, and it protects children from being the subject of any exploitation. Exploitation is one of those words that when properly understood is a very dirty word, whether it be with outworkers or children, but certainly I think we have all heard and seen cases of children being exploited. Usually that exploitation involves wage theft or underpayment and involves no OH&S and workplace safety standards because you are taking advantage of someone who is very vulnerable that perhaps would not know what the minimum wage is, would not know what the employer’s responsibilities are and would not know what the employer’s responsibilities are around their occupational health and safety.

Indeed I know when I got my first job I would have done anything. It did not really bother me, but at that time I was working in—I will not say the name of the place—a school supplies warehouse packing boxes and all that kind of stuff, and it was not until I became a firefighter that I became more aware of the OH&S act. Where I was working at that time, it might as well not have existed. We had people falling through roofs of the inner offices of a warehouse, with no ambulances being called because the boss rocked up and said, ‘You look okay. Shake it off. Rub some dirt in it. Off you go’. We just did not know at the time, and we just kept on going. It was not until I saw those workplace accidents and became a health and safety rep myself that I realised, ‘Wow. That was pretty crazy’.

It is legislation like this that is putting that protective boundary, that protective layer, around our kids as they get their first job to make sure that it is a positive experience, to make sure that they have that balance between their academic life and needs when they are going through VCAL or VCE, which is most important, and they are able to keep a job which is safe, without harassment, for a regulated wage and in conditions that are permitted in this legislation.

As a lot of people have said already about this bill, it is a long time coming, but I believe that it does treat some of the issues that were probably not issues back in those days. We have come a long way as far as the way people work goes. We have come a long way as far as delivery riders and drivers go, and I know there is a young bloke up the street from me that is riding a bike for Domino’s at the moment with a little Domino’s esky on the back. When I was young and when this legislation was first written, we would never have thought that that would be a job. We would never have thought that people would have done that. The closest thing we would have thought that came up to a job that would relate to that would be the paperboy. But again, these jobs are out there, and it is legislation like this that actually needs to keep up with maintaining some regulation and some standards around those jobs—mostly, in my belief, so that children are not taken advantage of, because children are generally the ones that will not know that it is happening and they will not know to ask the questions.

As I said in my first couple of sentences, it is great for kids to have jobs, but the child protection side of this is a big responsibility for the government. But it is also a huge responsibility for the employer, and this piece of legislation clearly sets out what employers need to do to employ children 15 years old and over or under the age of 15 and how to do it safely. I think it goes a long way—the permit system and the reform that has happened to that system—to ensure that parents also can keep an eye on things and know that the employer that is employing their child is doing the right thing.

Certainly the other thing that kids learn from jobs like these are some amazing skills, and in the seconds that I have got left I will tell you about the piece of Wagyu steak, marbled and massaged and whatnot, that was in my fridge the other night. When I went to cook it, I had my hand slapped. Apparently part of my son’s wage actually went to buying that Wagyu steak, which he has got an appreciation for now. He has no appreciation for the fact that it is my salt and my garlic and my butter—nothing for me at all—but he is getting an appreciation for a lot of other areas in life, like cooking and work and whatnot, and it is beautiful. I commend this bill to the house.

Mr McGHIE (Melton) (15:17): I rise today to also contribute to the Child Employment Amendment Bill 2022, and this is a very important bill. After working for 23 years as a trade union secretary, I find this bill very important for protecting our kids in their employment. Of course the Andrews Labor government continues to ensure that the regulatory framework to protect Victoria’s most vulnerable workers is strong and effective and important. The regulation of child employment is no exception. The Child Employment Act 2003 currently regulates when and in what circumstances children under 15 years of age in Victoria can work. We know that part-time or casual work can have many positive impacts for children—certainly, as said in the previous contribution from the member for Frankston, like learning new skills, gaining some confidence and independence and also earning some money so that kids can purchase things for themselves but also have some entertainment through that money that they earn. And the benefits that they receive through their employment must be balanced against the educational development and the need for additional safeguards due to some vulnerabilities in the workplace.

The current act sets out the age, types of work and conditions that apply to child employment and aims to protect children from doing work that could be harmful or affect their attendance at school and to protect children from exploitation. Of course the age limits for child employment regulation in Victoria align with international labour standards on child labour. There was a review done of the act in 2020–21, and the amendments proposed in this bill arise from that process. As part of the review process we consulted with employer groups, trade unions, industry associations, child welfare groups and other government departments and agencies. That review certainly highlighted opportunities to improve the child employment regulatory regime, particularly with respect to streamlining the permit system and adopting a risk-based regulatory approach. The final amendments aim to ensure that the act and the child employment regulatory scheme remain targeted, effective and responsive to contemporary workplace issues in changing the work landscape. This legislation does not propose to alter the minimum age for work nor to displace a number of important exclusions.

Under the current act the employment of children under 15 years old is primarily regulated through a permit system, provided the employer obtains a general industry permit. Children aged 11 years and over can undertake delivery work, and children aged 13 years and over are able to be employed in other non-hazardous work. Certainly a research report identified that 6 per cent of children under the age of 15 years are currently employed and that 3.5 per cent of Victorian businesses currently or have previously employed children under 15 years. The industries that these kids are working in mainly are retail—around 35 per cent—followed by food services, as we probably all know in the fast-food outlets, at I think around about 21 per cent, and then of course also in the entertainment industry. There is no minimum age for children to work in the entertainment industry, which can include performing, modelling, photographic, television and film work; however, a specific entertainment industry permit is required.

A mandatory code of practice further describes conditions around the employment of children in the entertainment industry, where there may be risks that are deemed to be higher. Certainly children of any age working in family businesses—as has been referred to before in previous contributions—including family farms, are exempt from the permit requirements. Children are only permitted to undertake light work and are excluded from employment in a number of hazardous industries and from performing dangerous tasks. Of course we do not want our kids working in hazardous industries—and I would hope that those industries are not that hazardous, because we would hope that through health and safety they are made safe and not hazardous. We certainly do not want our kids involved in any of those employment areas.

These age limits for child employment regulation in Victoria are aligned, as I said earlier, with the international labour standards on child labour, and certainly Victoria’s occupational health and safety laws also ensure that those children aged 15 to 17 years are afforded strong protection in their workplace. Certainly school attendance is compulsory for our kids in Victoria until the age of 17, with exemptions only granted in limited circumstances.

I have got a Melton youth forum, with around about eight to 10 kids attending that forum on a monthly basis. All of them have some type of employment—a lot of them work in these fast-food outlets—and one thing that they have requested of me is to run a local forum for kids to get to know what their workers rights are, because they have no idea what their rights are. They asked me a few questions as an ex-union secretary, and we spoke about that. They are all casually employed—and we saw what happened with casual employees through COVID and the insecurity of casual work—and we talk about wages being kept down. Anyone that seeks to get a wage increase as a casual employee will not likely have contact from their employer the next day for the next shift, because clearly if someone wants to agitate for better wages as a casual, the employer can just not bother to ring them anymore. They do not have to terminate you, they just do not have to ring you. So of course casuals unfortunately are kept under pressure to do work, to come to work sick, to not ask for wage increases and to do what the boss tells them to do. These kids asked for a youth forum around these sorts of things, and that is what we are going to organise in Melton later this year.

But I will say on that that it is pleasing to see the policy of the Andrews Labor government in regard to the sick pay guarantee for casuals. It has been a fantastic policy introduction. Again, we saw through COVID how casual employees were affected and will continue to be affected in regard to going forward if they do not have access to this five days of sick pay. What you see, again, is that casual employees are forced to come to work because they need the money. They need to work; they need the money. They need to put food on their tables; they need to enjoy themselves. They need to have social outings; they need to purchase things. And if they do not go to work, they do not get paid. So this sick pay guarantee is a fantastic initiative by this government. Of course these kids in my youth forum enjoy working. They really do. They enjoy the experience. They enjoy getting paid for it because they want to use that money, as I said, to purchase things and have social outings and also assist their families. A lot of them are from multicultural backgrounds, and some of their money goes towards contributing to the family for food and things like that, so it is really important to them.

So this current scheme requires an employer to apply for individual permits for each child they engage. Our review identified the permit system as one of the biggest issues for stakeholders, who supported a more efficient, responsive and flexible approach. The bill introduces a streamlined child employment licensing system to replace the individual permit system, and it will simplify the process for obtaining permission to employ a child by requiring one licence application. This is done annually for an entertainment licence and biannually for a general licence. Under the current act some employers who engage children frequently, such as those in the entertainment industry, can have hundreds of permits at one time, creating a significant amount of administrative work.

The new licensing system will also enable better targeting of resources to focus on licence-holders in the highest risk areas, who must provide more information and will receive more oversight. This might include increased emphasis on compliance and monitoring and audits. Employers will be able to employ multiple children under the one licence rather than applying for individual permits for each child employed, and they will then inform Wage Inspectorate Victoria of each child who is employed. There will be no cost associated with applying for a child employment licence.

Of course these measures will build on the Andrews Labor government’s recent adoption of the new child safety standards and ensure a focus by service providers and employers on children’s safety and wellbeing. The Andrews Labor government will always stand up for workers and ensure protections exist, and this is another example of this government ensuring that safe work environments exist and workers receive the protections that they need whilst also streamlining processes for businesses. I support these amendments. I applaud the Treasurer and the Minister for Industrial Relations and his staff, and I commend the bill to the house.

Mr STAIKOS (Bentleigh) (15:27): I also wish to make a contribution on the Child Employment Amendment Bill 2022, and I am proud to speak on a bill that contributes to this government’s strong record of achieving carefully balanced reforms. The Child Employment Act 2003, which our bill amends, regulates the employment of children under 15 years of age in Victoria, with the aim of protecting the youngest and most vulnerable in our workforce from exploitation. The government recognised the act needed to be updated to keep pace with changes in the modern workplace, and so we embarked on a reform process that has culminated in this bill. To get the balance right we consulted a wide range of stakeholders, including unions, employers of young people, business groups and industry bodies. I am confident that our proposed changes to the act will make the regulatory scheme more efficient, maintain protections for children in the workplace and support businesses to understand and comply with their obligations when it comes to employing children.

In this state we want our young people to be able to get the best possible start to their working lives, whether that is by ensuring that they have access to an excellent education, to vocational education and training and to free TAFE or by ensuring that they can get a bit of independence, earn some pocket money and supplement what they learn in the classroom with real-world, real-life experience, so long as their education does not suffer and they are not exposed to harm. The landmark research commissioned by our government to inform this bill found that young Victorians generally reported positive experiences of working. They told us they were motivated to work to earn their own money and to gain practical skills and experience.

I know from my own experience the benefits of learning life and job skills and how to manage money from an early age. I worked in my family’s coffee shop for a couple of years when I was in my teenage years—they were okay employers, I have to say—and it was kind of how I joined the Labor Party, because Simon Crean was a regular customer; it was up the road from his electorate office. So I certainly have fond memories of that time. That was not the only reason I joined the Labor Party. It was because of reforms like this that I joined the Labor Party, but I suppose Simon Crean coming in—I used to make his long black. In fact I used to make his long black when I worked in his electorate office as well, to be honest, but that sort of spurred me on. I have to say I am pleased to note that under this bill children working in their family’s business may continue to do so without needing a permit or licence, provided they are directly supervised by a parent or an appropriate person.

I also believe in the importance of promoting financial literacy to our young people. The community does need to understand how to manage money and how to avoid common financial pitfalls, and we know from research that younger Australians and women have lower rates of financial literacy. Learning to save and budget your first pay packet is a valuable experience. Experts tell us we have already lived through the third industrial revolution and we are entering the fourth. The workforce is experiencing more change in a matter of years than it has in decades. We want our young people to be prepared for the future.

In some ways today’s young people will need to possess very different skill sets from their parents’ skill sets to prepare for a world filled with technology we may not have even imagined today. But what we know will not change is the need for people skills to be able to communicate clearly and remain calm under pressure. After-school and weekend work can be a very good start, and my electorate of Bentleigh has many young parents and a strong and thriving small business community who I am sure will welcome the balanced approach that we have taken in this legislation.

At present the act is primarily regulated through a permit system administered by the Wage Inspectorate Victoria. Children under 15 years can legally work in Victoria, but in most situations, whether the work is unpaid or paid, their employer requires a permit. This individual permit system is a significant administrative burden. In 2018–19 over 11 000 permits were issued. To reduce this burden the bill introduces a streamlined child employment licensing system which is risk based and targeted to replace the permit system. This new system will allow businesses to become licensed to engage children rather than needing to apply for an individual permit each and every time they employ a child. This will be complemented by key safeguards, such as a fit and proper person test, to ensure protections remain.

It is important when designing legislation to balance risks, costs and benefits and the administrative burden. This bill takes a risk-based approach by ensuring low-risk work is subject to fewer regulatory interventions. For example, it keeps in place existing exclusions for participating in church or religious programs. It ensures that low-risk sporting activities such as coaching and umpiring will remain exempt, while high-risk sports, including gym instruction, martial arts and horseriding, remain covered by the same scheme. It also preserves some exclusions for domestic work like tutoring and babysitting. Under the general licence children will also be able to deliver newspapers, pamphlets and other advertising material from the age of 11, recognising that a paper round, especially in country towns, has been the first job of many Victorians going back decades. These exclusions and exemptions are appropriate and reflect how carefully the government has considered these issues.

This bill provides additional tools to ensure child workers in the entertainment industry are safe on the job. We know the vast majority—95 per cent of permit applications under the current system—come from the entertainment industry, such as casting children in live performances, TV shows and movies. I note that some of Australia’s best-known actors, Nicole Kidman and Heath Ledger among them, got their start at a very young age, but it is appropriate to recognise that the entertainment industry has a different risk profile and needs strong safeguards to ensure children are safe and their education is not compromised.

Similar to the current scheme, the entertainment industry will have its own form of licence which will need to be renewed each year rather than every two years as is required under the general licence. We are proposing several new offences to protect young Victorians in the entertainment sector from intimidation, threats and other totally unacceptable behaviour and to protect them from adult content and adult themes such as nudity and drug use. I am sure the parents in this place will join me in supporting these important new sections of the act. The mandatory code for the entertainment sector remains in place and will be reviewed following the passage of this bill, and we propose to increase the penalty for contraventions of the code.

The bill makes a number of other targeted amendments to improve the overall operation of the child employment regulatory regime and, as a result, promote better understanding and compliance across business and the community. These changes include clarifying the definition of ‘employment’ to provide greater certainty for businesses about what is covered, making clear that a child employment permit is not required for schoolchildren under formal work experience arrangements and also increasing the minimum age for a person supervising a child under 15 years in the workplace to 18 years. This will address concerns about requiring that children who are still subject to protection themselves in the workplace be responsible for the direct supervision of younger children. There are other changes as well.

The Andrews Labor government governs for all Victorians. We balance the needs of stakeholder groups, we consult broadly and we listen. Through this bill and many others the government has undertaken genuine reform that balances efficiency gains with appropriate safeguards. In two terms we have reviewed and reformed the regulatory system in a whole host of areas: planning, consumer affairs, environmental protection, wage theft, essential services, cladding safety, gender equality and many, many more. This bill continues that very important work. I commend the bill to the house, and I wish it a speedy passage.

Ms HALFPENNY (Thomastown) (15:36): I also rise to speak on the Child Employment Amendment Bill 2022, which basically amends the Child Employment Act 2003. The history of the child employment legislation and the amendments go back to addressing the issue of children working in particular industries, whether it is the entertainment industry or the paper rounds of days gone by and helping in family businesses. The employment of children under 15 years of age is probably one of the very few industrial relations areas of responsibility that the Victorian government has left, since all industrial relations powers were referred to the commonwealth and are no longer with the state. Of course it is important that we the state, with responsibility for children in employment, ensure that the legislation is up to date. As we know, all legislation needs to change with community standards, the test of time and when circumstances come up that show there are gaps, and we always have to look at legislation in order to improve it—to make it better.

In this case there had not been a review or any amendments to the legislation for at least 10 years. Things have changed over that time. It is also important to look at how the legislation was operating and if there could be continuous improvement, which is an idea that the Andrews Labor government is so very wedded to. We always try to see how things can be done better and how improvements can be made, and this is one example—the legislation and amendments we are talking about today. When looking at the legislation following the review there were some gaps found and the need seen for tightening up of definitions. There was a lot of consultation with industry groups and child welfare organisations to look at how we should tighten things up, and the result is what we are discussing today.

There is nobody who would not understand or acknowledge that employment at any age—some form of work—is very important. It provides other skills. It provides life experience. It provides another way in which to connect with other people. There is so much to learn as well as benefit from in working. For adults or children there are still benefits. But children are in a much more vulnerable position, so they need extra protections to make sure they are not exploited. We do not have to go back that far to see children who had to go down coalmines or sweep chimneys because they were small and could get into smaller places. We have come a long way, but we want legislation to make sure there is not child exploitation and we want to ensure that the circumstances that they are working in are safe, that there are good health and safety protections for them and that they will not be exploited in any other way, whether it is through sexual predators or whatever. Our government has done a lot of work in terms of strengthening protections for children to ensure that they are protected from anybody out there that seeks to abuse or take advantage of them.

The amendments that we are talking about today—I will not have a long time to talk about them and I know that a lot of previous speakers have gone into some really good detail and explained very clearly these changes. I will just run through a few and then go into detail just on one or two. The changes include changes to the definition of ‘employment’. They are also about replacing the child employment officers with authorised officers and clarifying their powers and positions and rights to enter; enabling the Wage Inspectorate Victoria to issue compliance notices for contraventions; increasing the penalties for certain offences; and providing for a new system of licensing that allows licences for children under 15 years, in that way also regulating their work and their circumstances. There are also changes to the permit system itself so that rather than one having to apply for permits individually, a permit can cover a group of children working in a particular industry.

It also clarifies things regarding family businesses. I think it was mentioned earlier by a previous speaker that in small business the child is part of the business and not just working for the business. The clarifications in these amendments are about making sure that children in family businesses can continue as is the case but that this is still subject to there being proper supervision and also that the industries in which they are working are deemed to be low-risk industries and not ones where the child could be confronted with serious injury or very big threats to their health and safety.

This legislation really just builds on the work that the Andrews Labor government is doing in terms of ensuring that all working people are safer. There has been a lot of legislation that has been introduced—changes to beef up our health and safety laws to make sure that there are stronger protections in the workplace for working people so that they are able to go home uninjured and do not have to just rely on the workplace or the kindness of the heart of the employer but that there are actually both strong penalties and legislation, which is often rights based, to ensure that their workplace is very safe and people are protected and of course that the health and safety of children is paramount.

Some of the other areas which I have gone through are the compliance notices from the Wage Inspectorate Victoria. Previously there would have to be a prosecution of an individual employer in the event of a breach of a permit or licence. These amendments now provide for infringement notices and the revocation of permits or their putting aside, so it is not just about prosecution—which does not give the same flexibility. One is, of course, that it is a lengthy process through the courts, but also it does not allow for flexibility in order to ensure that the breach can be remedied quickly and also be dealt with quickly. In some cases it may really only justify an infringement notice rather than a full prosecution through the courts.

The area that was mentioned earlier by me and others is the entertainment industry, which is one of the most dominant industries in the employment of children, but there are also a number of others, including ones that will not be covered by the legislation because it just really would not work and is not designed to cover them. For example, the definitions have changed in a number of areas, such as extending tutoring to outside residential premises, so that if it is occurring at a library or other premises, it is not covered. I know in the Thomastown electorate there are a lot of students that volunteer to work with younger students doing tutoring in the libraries, and of course it ought not be that those situations are covered by a permit when they are in public areas. There is supervision there, and the work they are doing is such a valuable contribution to helping other younger children with their studies. I have to say there is so much volunteering and so many young people in the area that do such a great job in looking after others, looking after younger children, looking after those that may need that little bit of extra help. I think the Thomastown electorate and the residents in it are very much into volunteering, being part of a community and part of a place where people can work together for the good of all.

Ms KILKENNY (Carrum) (15:46): It is a pleasure to rise to contribute today to the debate on the Child Employment Amendment Bill 2022. As we have heard, this is a bill to amend the Child Employment Act 2003. The amendments in this bill build on the Andrews Labor government’s commitment to children’s safety and wellbeing. They follow amendments that were made in the adoption of new child safety standards, where there was a clear focus on getting service providers to focus on and to put in the forefront of their mind children’s safety and wellbeing.

The Andrews Labor government is obviously committed to ensuring that our regulatory framework to protect Victoria’s most vulnerable workers remains strong and remains effective, and this most definitely extends to children who are working—who are in employment. We know they can be particularly vulnerable to exploitation, to risk in the workplace, but also to things like wage theft and perhaps not knowing their rights or not being able to assert their rights in the workplace.

This bill actually builds on and adopts a number of recommendations that were highlighted in a review undertaken back in 2020–21. It was a review of the Child Employment Act. Part of that work focused on just gathering data, so finding out, for example, where children are being employed and what their experiences are like. I thought it was quite helpful that that review actually sought directly from children information about their experiences: what has happened to them, what has been working well and how they feel about the system. I think it is important when we are dealing with vulnerable workers that we need to make sure that the regulatory system is fit for purpose; that it is not just a matter of being an administrative burden, if you like, on employers; that it is tailored; that it is effective to this particular cohort of worker; and that it is responsive also to changing industry demands but to the changing nature of industry as well, recognising that there will be different risks in different workplace environments and that different conditions probably need to attach to children who are working in those different areas.

That research told us a number of things. It told us that the retail sector and the food services sector are industries that significantly employ children—the largest number of children in fact under 15 years. Then of course there is the entertainment industry, which is the third largest employer of children under 15. I thought it was interesting that the research revealed that many employers wrongly believe that the age for children to be employed is 14 years and nine months. I do not know where they got that from, but I have had people tell me that age as well. I do not know if that is perhaps a legacy issue from a time gone by, but whatever it is, we are clear that the minimum age is 15 years. Children who are younger than 15 will be regulated under this system.

The research revealed on the whole that children’s experiences of working are mostly positive, and indeed we have heard that working can have really positive impacts on children. It is about independence, it is about responsibility, it is about developing new skills and meeting new people and of course earning money as well. My son, Raff, who is now 12, is so keen to work. In fact when he was 10 he wrote up his own little résumé and made us drive him to a local shop where he could submit his résumé and ask them about working. I did not have the heart to tell him that he was completely under age and could not possibly work, but I thought the experience was nevertheless good for him.

Many years ago I worked for a fabulous organisation here in Melbourne called the Australian Children’s Television Foundation. By its nature and because of the content it produced, most of its actors were children and are children. In fact I think Nicole Kidman got one of her first starts in one of the series that was produced by the Australian Children’s Television Foundation. But it was quite extraordinary to watch those children on set—so young but so capable—

A member interjected.

Ms KILKENNY: It might have been BMX Bandits. I think it might have been Winners actually—that was the name of the series. These children were so capable, but it was clear that the regulation of their conditions, of their working hours and of their supervision was absolutely critical in making sure that there were safe work practices, and it was taken very, very seriously by the organisation.

The review found also—having engaged with many other stakeholders besides children, including employer groups, unions, peak industry bodies, welfare groups and community organisations—a number of key areas for reform. These centred around the existing permit system and indicated a high regulatory burden and an inability to respond, as I have mentioned before, to different industry conditions. It is a kind of one-size-fits-all approach that perhaps is not working at its best or as effectively as it can. The review highlighted a number of opportunities to improve the child employment regulatory regime, particularly with respect to streamlining that permit system and adopting a much more risk-based regulatory approach.

It will also clarify and update the definition of ‘employment’, which is really important because people need to be clear whether a child is working under conditions that are captured by this regulatory scheme or not. Where they are not, it might be where children are doing formal workplace experience or babysitting. The review also identified that the Wage Inspectorate Victoria could be strengthened, with greater enforcement powers and of course increased penalties for non-compliance. The bill before us picks up on all of those matters that were raised by the review, and obviously the overall aim is very clear. It is to ensure that the regulatory scheme remains targeted and does what it sets out to do, and that is to provide the best protection for children in work but also to find that balance. To enable those children to work and gain that experience, we have to make sure that the scheme is responsive to contemporary workplace issues in a really changing work landscape.

The Andrews Labor government is absolutely committed to ensuring that our regulatory framework will protect Victoria’s most vulnerable workers. As we have heard, that will see an overhaul of the permit system and will put in place a licensing system. Under this system employers will not be required to apply for an individual permit for every child they engage. Instead, in the case of the entertainment industry it will be a single permit each year, and then for other industries there will be a general industry permit that will be applied for every two years. Obviously that streamlines the approach, but I think more important is the information that is then collected, because what that means is that it will become a more risk focused or risk based regulatory approach, conditions can attach to a permit and we will see a much more fit for purpose system in place, which means better protection for the children and better responsiveness to changing industry needs and demands.

The bill will also establish a register of employers with a child employment licence. I think that is important because parents and carers need to know which organisations and which employers are actually complying with the laws for protecting children at work; they are better informed then about whether they should permit their children to work.

The amendments in this bill are intended to make the regulatory scheme, as I said, for child employment much more fit for purpose. It is about strengthening protections for children in the workplace while supporting business to do the right thing. I commend the bill.

Mr RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (15:56): It is a pleasure to rise and speak on the Child Employment Amendment Bill 2022 and follow the list of speakers on the importance of some of these amendments, which will strengthen the protections and bring the legislation, which has been 10 years in the making, into the modern context as well. It is my understanding it has been a decade since the previous review of this legislation, and it comes at an important time post a global pandemic, when we saw the employment market upended and significant challenges for all Victorians and businesses across our communities. It is at a time when technological advancement in the last decade has been absolutely substantial, and we need to make sure that in the context of changing employment arrangements and outcomes and the way that we are working, including our young people, the legislative reforms and policy areas are contemporary as well.

It is a moment to reflect on how positive children undertaking work in various fashions is on their development and their resilience and how that strengthens their outcomes into the future as well. It is a really important outcome. We have all got our own lived experiences and different examples that we can draw on. For me personally, it was at a young age painting lines on roads out in the south-east—statcons, chevrons, metre-by-metre lines—or at the Footscray fruit and veg market, where 38 kilometres of forklift lines did not paint themselves. I was never let loose on the lines, actually; I was the stencil boy at the time. The knees are a bit shot now, and the back, but it was a great opportunity to participate in work and build my resilience as a young person and as a teenager—getting up at 5, getting out on the tools and working on those sites for sometimes 10- to 12-hour days and doing night shifts as I went through uni as well. It was a really important example of the benefits that work can provide, but we also need to make sure that wages, conditions and support for young people are protected. I think my sister, who undertook tutoring and dance teaching at a younger age, was another example of those opportunities that work can present as well. It is important that we balance those opportunities and the enthusiasm of our young people to get out and take on the world and build their resilience and capabilities with those absolutely necessary protections.

Some of the key elements that I am really keen on in this bill are about strengthening the definition of employment, those greater protections for those that are mentoring young people and also the Wage Inspectorate Victoria. As we enter the final seconds before the matter of public importance, I know the Speaker will be back for this wonderful contribution, so I will cover off a bit more on the Wage Inspectorate Victoria and some of those protections when we are back after the MPI. But this is a really important bill, and I do not yet commend it to the house, because I am not yet finished.

Business interrupted under sessional orders.