Thursday, 24 March 2022

Sick pay guarantee

Mr DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan—Leader of the Opposition) (12:27): My question is to the Minister for Workplace Safety. Minister, how much will be spent on advertising and promotion of the government’s businesses employing casuals scheme that was announced?

Ms STITT (Western Metropolitan—Minister for Workplace Safety, Minister for Early Childhood) (12:27): I thank Mr Davis for his question about what is a very, very important initiative of our government, and that is to tackle the scourge of insecure work in our labour market. One in four Australians occupies casual or insecure employment, and that is something that is a significant problem because it means that one in four workers—

Members interjecting.

Mr Davis: On a point of order, President, it was a very simple question about the advertising.

The PRESIDENT: I understand that, but she was only going for 5 seconds before the interjections started.

Ms STITT: Thank you, President. The point I was making is that these workers across our state who occupy casual and insecure employment are often facing significant financial disadvantage. We have heard a bit in this chamber this week about what people’s views are about disadvantage, and I can tell you that our view about disadvantage and inequality is that we are going to tackle them, and we are doing so through this scheme.

In relation to the $245 million investment that our government has made in the two-year trial, we will be setting aside $1.5 million to ensure that both employers and workers understand the rules and the obligations under this scheme. There will be a hotline that is set up at the department to ensure that people who are affected by the scheme and who want to ensure that their rights are upheld can get professional advice from the department. There will be obviously digital, print and TV components which will ensure that people are aware of the ability to apply for sick pay in the event that, if they are in one of the targeted industries, they can access up to five days a year of sick pay. We make no apology as a government for ensuring that the community understands these very important initiatives that our government is pursuing.

Mr DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan—Leader of the Opposition) (12:29): The point here is that the minister has indicated a significant advertising campaign, and I ask: will the minister provide a guarantee that none of the millions of planned advertising will be sourced from the $245.6 million the government has initially allocated for this scheme? Will it be extra?

Ms STITT (Western Metropolitan—Minister for Workplace Safety, Minister for Early Childhood) (12:30): I thank Mr Davis for his question. I am not sure what he is proposing here. Is he proposing that it is not an important initiative to tackle insecure employment and to ensure for the very people who are often at the margins in our community that we are reaching those communities that are the hardest to reach? If we cannot take the learnings from the pandemic over the last two years that often people are not plugged into mainstream media and we need to take different approaches to make sure they understand their rights and obligations, then we are missing a huge opportunity. Our government is absolutely committed to making sure that this $245 million scheme tackles the inequality in our labour market, and that is exactly what we will be doing.