Senator SHELDON (New South Wales) (19:20): Last week the US state of California took an important stand for its working families, the people who built the state into the sixth-largest economy in the world. The California legislature voted to disrupt the disruptors. It passed an important law, one that requires gig economy companies like Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Instacart to treat their workers like employees, not as independent contractors with no rights. It is a law that will set a precedent that other states and countries could follow. California's Democratic governor is backing the law because, while the wealthiest are reaping an unprecedented share of the fruits of the globalised information economy, the middle class in the US is shrinking, and many people are being shut out of decent and secure work. I'll read out part of the words of the California governor, Gavin Newsom. He is telling us something that is important about how we as a country can prepare for what is called the fourth industrial revolution. The governor is not talking about apps or robots or taking up the latest technology. He is talking about people and the future of work. He is talking about why people need labour rights and why they need labour unions to defend those rights. Announcing his support for this law protecting workers in the gig economy, he said: Working people have lost their bargaining power. The laws and institutions that help them share in the prosperity that they help create have been chipped away—one outsourced factory, one rollback of a financial regulation, one anti-labor law at a time. He said it was no coincidence that at a time when 'union membership has fallen, the share of income going to the top 10 percent has skyrocketed' and the 'economy has stopped working for working people'. What is driving the undermining of workers rights? It is a business model that relies on the wholesale misclassification of workers. Companies eager to save on labour costs identify workers as independent contractors with no rights, rather than as employees with rights. The governor is describing California, but he could also be talking about Australia. Our economy and social safety net are not the same as that of the US, but, make no mistake, the disruption is coming to all corners of our economy. If we do not act, more and more Australians across industries will be condemned to a life with little secure work. All workers deserve fair pay, fair conditions and superannuation, no matter where they work or what they do for a living. In Australia, unions are leading the fight for decent work in the face of the enormous lobbying power of companies like Uber, Deliveroo and Foodora. Last year, Joshua Klooger, who worked as a delivery rider for Foodora, bravely stood up to that company and won his case in the Fair Work Commission that he was an employee, not a contractor. Josh went on to say: Over time I saw they weren't caring about drivers who were out there and doing all the hard work and it's time someone stepped in and made some rules for companies to abide by. Josh wasn't alone, because he had the backing of his union, the Transport Workers Union. So why won't the government stand up for people like Josh? Instead of backing Australian workers, this government has for six years presided over a spike in insecure work, underemployment and wage theft. We know quite clearly what side the Liberals and the National Party are on. The Morrison government's so-called 'ensuring integrity' bill would put further restrictions, unprecedented in the developed world, on freedom of association and the right of people to organise. Meanwhile, working people need unions to fight for them more than ever. Without unions all kinds of workers, from the transport, retail and hospitality industries to accountants and information technology workers, will be shut out of the opportunities of the emerging information and artificial-intelligence-driven economy. (Time expired)