A crackdown on worker exploitation, including tough new laws and stiffer penalties for companies that underpay staff, is inevitable regardless of the election outcome on July 2.
On Thursday the Australian Labor Party will outline a suite of measures designed to go further than the Coalition's if it wins office.
The crackdown on worker exploitation by all sides of politics follows a series of exposes showing workers, including interns, foreign students and other workers on visas, being ripped off, most notably at the convenience store giant 7-Eleven.
Labor's new policies would allow workers to go after the $170 billion franchise industry, notably the franchisor, in cases of underpayment of wages. The laws would be changed to allow head office to then chase franchisees to recoup any amount it had to pay out to exploited workers.
Franchisors can currently only be pursued as accessories to workplace law breaches if it can be proved they were "knowingly concerned in or party to the contravention".
Labor says it will reverses that burden and make franchise head offices prove they could not have reasonably known workers were being ripped off.
The plan also increases fines for serious underpayment tenfold to $108,000 for an individual, or three times whatever amount the worker was underpaid, if that is higher. The fine for corporations would increase tenfold to $540,000.
The package of reforms includes a pledge to increase Fair Work Ombudsman's budget by $22 million, compared with a $20 million increase by the Coalition.
The Coalition announced its policy to clamp down on wage fraud in May, which also included fines being increased tenfold and new laws so franchisors could be charged for workplace breaches. But Labor says its policy goes further by making head offices prove they weren't privy to the exploitation.
Employment Minister Michaelia Cash's suite of policies includes establishing a new Migrant Worker Taskforce within Fair Work headed up by former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chief Allan Fels. It is understood Labor is considering adopting that policy, but has not done so a yet.
Labor's Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Brendan O'Connor, used the policy platform to attack the government's controversial and "exploitative" youth internship program.
Mr O'Connor said the program's legality had been called into question, highlighting the need for reform. Labor would develop a clear definition of what an internship was to ensure anyone doing "real work" was paid properly, he said.
