STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator STEWART (Victoria) (13:50): I rise to congratulate the mighty Transport Workers' Union on a historic world-first win for gig workers. Think about the worker who brings your dinner to your door. They ride through traffic, rain and cold from the restaurant to your home.

Until yesterday, they had no minimum rate, no insurance and no guarantee they would even earn minimum wage; an algorithm decided what their work was worth. People said it couldn't be done. Yesterday, the algorithm was in charge.

Today, workers are in charge. That is what the TWU have fought to change and what they have won. From yesterday, food delivery workers at companies like Uber, DoorDash and HungryPanda gained world-first rights and protections: minimum rates of more than $31 an hour for active work; payment for waiting time and travel time—because that's work too; insurance, so that workers injured on the job are not left with nothing; transparency about how delivery fees are calculated; and union delegate rights and paid delegate leave, because workers need a voice at work and wins like this do not happen without strong union representation.

These are rights that workers in other industries have long taken for granted. Now, gig workers have them too. For too long, gig workers were told they had to choose between flexibility and security.

This victory proves that they can have both. TWU delegates made this happen. They organised.

They campaigned. They came to Canberra and they told their stories. The Albanese Labor government listened, and together we delivered.

If you do the work, you deserve to get paid properly for it. Congratulations to the TWU, Michael Kaine and Emily McMillan, and every delegate who helped to make this historic victory.