Wednesday, 30 July 2025

Economy and Infrastructure Committee

Inquiry into Workplace Surveillance

Ella GEORGE (Lara) (10:24): It is a great pleasure to rise and speak today on the Legislative Assembly Economy and Infrastructure Committee’s report on the inquiry into workplace surveillance. I would like to begin by thanking the Chair, the member for Bellarine; the Deputy Chair, the member for Shepparton; committee members; and the secretariat for their tremendous work in compiling this report. I would also like to thank all of those who attended hearings or made submissions to this important inquiry. Everyone in this place knows the importance of having a robust evidence base when we are working on inquiries like this and the value of lived experience, and to everyone who made a submission about their own experiences of workplace surveillance, I thank you.

Workplace surveillance is not new. In putting together my contribution for today I was reflecting on my own experiences of workplace surveillance across many different workplaces when I was younger, from the age of 18, including some more recent workplaces. These experiences ranged from cameras being put in kitchens to keep an eye on staff and more discreet ways of surveillance. So we know that this is not new and that employers have been using surveillance techniques for years, but what is concerning is that, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in most workplaces transitioning to remote or hybrid work, there have been more concerns around how to monitor productivity in a modern workplace, and workplace surveillance has become more pervasive.

Workplace surveillance has also become more sophisticated with technology advances, yet the most recent major change to Victoria’s workplace surveillance laws occurred in 2006, which is a very long time ago – I was in first-year university then – and since then we have seen smartphones, artificial intelligence and remote working arrangements become commonplace, but governments around Australia have not kept pace in updating privacy and surveillance laws. In fact only the ACT and New South Wales have workplace surveillance laws in place, and these laws require employers to give advance notice of how and when the surveillance will take place. The ACT also requires employers to alert employees of the purpose of the surveillance and to consult with employees on introducing surveillance into the workplace and protecting the data that has been collected. Even in these states the laws and regulations around workplace surveillance do not cover all technologies and scenarios, nor do they require workplace surveillance to be reasonable, necessary and proportionate.

Currently Australia has no legally binding international conventions regulating or prohibiting workplace surveillance it must adhere to. With no federal laws that address workplace surveillance and a minimal framework for regulating workplace surveillance, reform in Victoria is needed, and what our Victorian workplaces deserve is a regulated, transparent system of surveillance that empowers employees, which Victoria indeed has the power to regulate under the Fair Work Act 2009. Technological advancements are inevitable and rapid, and as a state we need to keep up.

The first finding that this report makes is that workplace surveillance has now been made easier, cheaper and more pervasive in Victorian workplaces due to the pandemic-induced shift to hybrid and remote work arrangements. This report also finds that the current under-regulated mode for workplace surveillance does not meaningfully increase productivity; instead it fosters distrust, reduces job satisfaction and undermines organisational commitment. Constant monitoring pressures workers to skip breaks and work faster, creating serious health and safety risks. Further, surveillance that is tied to performance or discipline can lead to chronic stress. The report also makes a number of findings and recommendations around employee privacy, including nine recommendations in this area. The report finds that workplace surveillance infringes on privacy, extending beyond the workplace into homes and communities through vehicle and remote monitoring. Workers cannot genuinely consent when refusing surveillance risks their job. It deepens the power imbalances and discourages union engagement, undermining collective bargaining rights. We know that these harms fall hardest on those already marginalised groups, including women, migrant workers, young people, LGBTQIA+ workers and people with disabilities, whose bargaining power is already reduced and who are more likely to experience the harmful impacts of intense workplace surveillance.

I would like to commend the committee on the strong recommendations that they have made, starting with their first recommendation that the Victorian government introduce new principles-based workplace surveillance legislation. This is an excellent recommendation. The recommendations in this report are incredibly strong, and I look forward to seeing this work progress.