Wednesday, 9 March 2022

Economy and Infrastructure Committee

Inquiry into the Impact of the COVID‑19 Pandemic on the Tourism and Events Sectors

Mr GEPP (Northern Victoria) (17:31): I rise to speak on the report on the inquiry into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism and events sectors of 2021. That report covered many areas, and I was pleased to be a part of the inquiry. Once again I would like to thank those who presented to the inquiry and who shared their experiences.

We know that COVID-19 has exposed some serious ongoing economic issues that require some very careful consideration moving forward. Because of the limited time available to me today, I want to focus on just one of those issues that emerged through the inquiry, and that is the issue confronting the workforce. We heard repeatedly through the inquiry that the industry was experiencing a workforce availability, retention and skill shortage arising from the pandemic. For example, people told us about the closed borders limiting the supply of backpacker labour that they were used to, the looming end of the JobSeeker scheme at the time, perceived skills shortages for particular roles in tourism and events and a lack of career paths, which was a big one that many representatives of the tourism and events sector highlighted. We also heard over and over that the majority of staff in those industries and sectors are in precarious employment. They are casuals, and many of them chose to leave the industry either because JobKeeper was drying up and/or the offer of more stable employment in another industry was more enticing.

Alarmingly the rise of precarious employment in the tourism and events sector matches the experiences of many Victorians and many Australians. Over the last 20 to 30 years we have seen an exponential growth in precarious employment across our economy, with the rise in the use of things such as labour hire, sham contracting, offshoring, fixed-term employment and casual employment preferred predominantly by employers over permanency. Today almost a third of our nation’s workforce is employed in a manner considered precarious. Whereas once upon a time casual employment was the preferred employment model for seasonal work, surge capacity or to cover short-term absences, it is quickly becoming the default employment model of choice across the economy. The most profitable and privileged employers in Victoria and Australia are resorting more and more to the use of precarious employment models. For example, our big four banks are no strangers to these practices.

So what is wrong with these employment practices and models? Well, the impact they have on a person’s livability, as we know, can be profound. Imagine not knowing, when one shift ends, when the next one will come—not knowing how much money you will earn this week and if you will have enough to cover the bills and put food on the table. You struggle to get an affordable housing lease because you cannot demonstrate to the real estate agent the necessary income stream. And absolutely forget about trying to convince a bank to loan you money for a mortgage when you cannot even scrape together the smallest of deposits or show your capacity to repay the loan. On it goes.

We must do more than just scream for the pipeline of cheap labour to be reopened. We must use the pandemic as the opportunity to respond to a significant structural inefficiency in our economy, the growing tide that is precarious employment. Too many of our citizens are struggling and falling behind on the livability scale because they cannot get consistent, ongoing, well-paid jobs. It is a challenge that we must confront before it goes any further.