Letter to Dan Repacholi and Tony Burke Industrial Relations Minister – Stand up for workers

This letter was sent on 27 July 2022. As of 31 August no reply has been received.

Dear Mr Repacholi

Congratulations on your election to the Australian House of Representatives.

You have been elected to represent the people and workers of the Hunter and in that regard, I ask that you please read my attached letters addressed to your predecessor Mr Joel Fitzgibbon, in which I detail significant abuses of Hunter Valley miners.  Similar letters were sent to the Hunter CFMEU union boss at the time, Mr Peter Jordan.

It is deeply disappointing that neither Joel, nor your party, nor Hunter CFMEU union bosses prevented or rectified the abuses to Simon Turner and many other Hunter casual coal miners.

Among the many severe injustices on which we have fought for Hunter casual coal miners are the following:

• Loss of basic mineworkers’ compensation for workers injured at BHP’s Mount Arthur Mine and which CFMEU union bosses are aware, yet have done nothing;

• Loss of miners’ Accident Pay;

• Employer/mine-owner threats to injured workers to not report serious injuries;

• Culture of mine management and management “safety bonuses” that threatens casual coal miners who speak up on safety issues;

• Non-reporting of injuries including serious injuries;

• Underpayment of up to 40% to casual mineworkers compared with permanent workers alongside casuals on the same roster and doing the same job;

• Coal LSL under accrual and underpayment for casual miners;

• Loss of miners’ basic entitlements and protections and the illegal employment of casuals on production under the Black Coal Mine Industry Award;

• Gaps in the Black Coal Mine Industry Award that left casuals vulnerable and unprotected by the Fair Work Ombudsman; and,

• Work, health and safety authorities and insurers ignoring injured casuals.

There have been many injustices done to casual mine workers on mine sites in the Hunter and across Australia.  Employers and Hunter CFMEU union bosses continue to exploit and ignore these miners. Labor has misrepresented these miners’ plight in what seems to be an attempt to protect Hunter CFMEU union bosses responsible for donations to your party’s election campaigns.

When Labor and the union bosses ignored miners’ pleas for help to restore basic employment protections and entitlements, we stepped in.  Our One Nation team have been supporting and working for casual workers since July 2019 to restore miners’ entitlements and protections.

Now that you are the Hunter’s voice in Canberra, please consider these facts:

• CFMEU union bosses set up Hunter labour-hire companies enabling and perpetuating the permanent casual rort.

• CFMEU union bosses negotiated and signed off on the abusive casual enterprise agreements.

• Labor’s Jeff Drayton admits he did a deal in 2017 allowing casuals to be terminated with one hour’s notice and gave no entitlement to annual leave, carer’s leave or paid compassionate leave: Daily Telegraph May 2021.

• The CFMMEU National Legal Director courageously publicly confirmed the union ignored casuals.

• Mine royalties and mining jobs subsidise our way of life, the schools, the hospitals and the lifestyle that both city and country Australians enjoy.

Labor’s coal and industrial relations policies, actions and omissions are undermining workers and the Hunter.  One Nation has continued to support and fight hard for casual workers’ rights including introducing legislation for equal (or greater) pay for casuals.  Please refer to the attached. 

You are accountable for what happens next or does not happen for the ignored injured coal miners and to jobs and families in the Hunter.

Labor must honour your election campaign promises to Hunter miners and not do deals with the Greens who want to shut down the coal industry. 

I am writing to your Minister for Industrial Relations, the Hon Tony Burke, seeking his support for the Fair Work Ombudsman to conduct an inquiry into the use and abuse of casual mineworkers in the Hunter.  The previous government promised One Nation such an inquiry.  I hope that you will publicly support such an inquiry as a matter of urgency.

I would be happy to meet with you to discuss what needs to be done to further the successes we have achieved for casual coal miners everywhere and to fulfil my aims stated in 2019 to:

• Restore to workers their legal and moral entitlements and protections and to obtain compensation for the trauma miners have endured;

• Stop exploitation of permanent ”casual” coal mine workers across Australia; and

• Obtain justice for Hunter casual miners in light of the collusion between BHP, Chandler MacLeod and the Hunter CFMEU union bosses.

I hope that you and Labor will support my Bill introduced into the Senate earlier this year and re-introduced in the Senate yesterday, and that you will support my call for an independent inquiry.  I look forward to the possibility of meeting with you.

Yours sincerely

Malcolm Roberts

Senator for Queensland

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