Ms BURNET (Clark) – Honourable Speaker, tonight, I would like to speak about the portable long service leave roundtable that was held last Friday. On 22 November, I hosted a roundtable on portable long service leave on behalf of the Greens. The event was designed to give Tasmanian unions and workers an opportunity to share with MPs information about the concept of portable long service leave, and why introducing a scheme for workers in the disability and community services, aged care, contract cleaning and security sectors must be a priority. The event was also an opportunity to raise the profile of this important reform and to consider how the parliament can best collaborate to enact it.
The fact that workers who may move from employer to employer because of their industry structure cannot access long service leave entitlements is incredibly unfair. These workers, mainly women, are missing out. Those who attended last Friday’s roundtable heard from representatives from the United Workers Union, the Australian Services Union and the Health and Community Services Union. We also heard from the CEO of TasBuild, Mr Mark Williams, about the success of portable long service leave in the construction sector since it was enacted in the 1970s, and the pitfalls and improvements that have occurred over time with the administration of this scheme. This is the envy of other trades. It has been successfully implemented and is a great knowledge base for any future rollout to community services, aged care, contract cleaners and security workers.
You might remember that during the 2024 state election, the Health and Community Services Union canvassed political parties and candidates regarding a number of issues. This included a question about support for introducing a portable long service scheme for workers in these sectors. Encouragingly, this proposed reform received in‑principle support from a majority of current MPs elected to this House of Assembly. Since the election, HACSU, the UWU and the ASU have stepped up their advocacy on this issue. Given the numbers in the House and the diversity of MLCs in the Legislative Council, there is real potential for achieving reform. I believe the best opportunity for realising this potential is through a collaborative approach that engages members from across this parliament.
This interest and sense of collaborative approach to fix the issue was clearly on display from those who attended or were represented. I thank Ms Johnston, Mr O’Byrne, Ms Webb, Ms Brown and Ms Haddad, who all attended, and I acknowledge those who would have made it if only they could.
We have many examples in other jurisdictions where portable long service leave has been introduced. The Australian Capital Territory was touted as a successful model, as well as New South Wales and Queensland, and South Australia’s recent legislation has been passed. I ask those who are listening to think about signing the petition that the Health and Community Services Union is running on this issue and also follow their campaign. This could make a significant difference to the lives of workers in these sectors. I urge all of us to be involved in this worthy campaign.
