Acting Minister for Industrial Relations Jacinta Allan yesterday received the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Labour Hire and Insecure Work in Victoria.
The Andrews Labor Government will now consider the recommendations made in the report and will respond in due course.
The inquiry was chaired by RMIT Professor, Anthony Forsyth and conducted 17 days of public hearings across regional Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne.
The inquiry heard from a total of 221 individual witnesses during 113 hearing sessions and received submissions from more than 695 organisations and individuals
The inquiry investigated the links between worker exploitation and labour hire companies, insecure work, sham contracts and the abuse of visas to avoid minimum workplace standards.
Evidence of exploitative behaviour, arrangements to avoid legal obligations, widespread underpayment of wages, tax avoidance, non-payment of superannuation, poor health and safety practices and, in some instances, allegations of illegal conduct were presented to the inquiry.
Quotes attributable to Acting Minister for Industrial Relations Jacinta Allan
“No employee should ever be exploited, harassed or deprived of their basic liberties in their workplace.”
“Every unethical labour contractor should know that these activities will not be tolerated and this inquiry will provide us with a way forward on how we stop this from happening.”
“I would like to thank Professor Forsyth and his inquiry team for conducting this very broad ranging and thorough examination of the labour hire industry and the issue of casual work.”
Reviewed 19 August 2020