Tuesday, 5 April 2022

On-demand workforce

Mrs McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (17:57): (1863) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Industrial Relations and concerns the fair conduct and accountability standards for the Victorian on-demand workforce. I thank the minister for his extensive and precise answer provided to me on 23 March regarding my previous adjournment matter on this issue. Often in this place the incompetent ministers on other benches provide vague, brief and recycled responses to matters raised and questions asked, so it is reassuring to see that one minister on at least one occasion has shown commitment to transparency. I hope he remains so in responding to this matter.

I was relieved to hear in the minister’s response that the standards for the gig economy will be:

… guided by the principle of ensuring we accommodate and support genuine needs of platform businesses and not stifle innovation or entrepreneurial activity …

To fulfil this mantra it is crucial that any developed standards are designed to be functional and help make business work and are not penalties for non-compliance, which destroy any enterprise. I note in his answer the minister referred to the need to:

… provide on-demand workers with a more beneficial regulatory system …

The minister must come clean. Is what the government is proposing standards or regulations for Victoria’s vital gig economy, which enables significant business activity across the state? These are very different beasts. Standards are benchmarks that should be aspired to. Regulations are business-stifling rules cooked up by bureaucrats, usually under this government, advised on by big unions and then ticked off by a clueless minister; they financially penalise those who fail to adhere to them. The gig economy does not need further regulation that will damage its productivity and potentially deprive of work the thousands of Victorians who are engaged in digital platforms. This especially includes students, stay-at-home parents and those looking for permanent employment who rely on the flexibility that the gig work offers.

There are also innumerable businesses that benefit from the gig economy, such as the hospitality sector, in which many relatively unknown or unvisited restaurants have deservedly and significantly profited from food delivery services. Many small businesses also benefit greatly from being able to engage IT professionals or web designers as independent contractors through platforms like Freelancer. The gig economy is interwoven throughout our state’s entire modern economy, and imposing regulations on it risks causing inefficiency and higher costs. The action I therefore seek from the minister is that he guarantees gig platforms that the proposal being developed by the government remains solely as standards and not regulations, with no penalties for non-compliance.