Future of Work

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have been devastating, and will likely be generational. Among other things the pandemic has highlighted once again the power and security of stable employment, while also highlighting the insecurity and lack of stability offered in many jobs and industries. It doesn’t need to be this way. As we work towards emerging from this pandemic, South Australians deserve new hope and opportunity. We have all been reassessing what work should and can look like over the past year, and if we are satisfied with its nature at present. The past year has made it quite clear that normal was not working. It was not working for every day South Australians, it was not working for our economy, it was not working for our society, and it most certainly was not working for the environment. We have the option now to do things differently. 

We continue to face the crises of inequality and of climate change in South Australia, and while a Jobs Guarantee is not a silver bullet it is an important tool that we have for addressing these issues.

We can pay people to care for their communities and for their environment, to learn new skills while doing so or to finally have the opportunity to use the skills they already have. We can invest in repairing our landscape, in better preparing for bushfires. We can fill much needed positions in the health services, aged care and disability sectors. In short, we can look after each other. There is a wealth of opportunity in our state to connect the untapped potential of people with the unmet needs of the community. A jobs guarantee would - and has in the past - ensure that there is meaningful work for anyone who wants it.

This is why the Greens are calling for an inquiry into a Jobs Guarantee for South Australia, so that the Government and our State can examine in detail how a Jobs Guarantee could work in South Australia and the benefits it would bring.

The Greens firmly believe that the public sector is best placed to respond to changing social, environmental and economic circumstances, and to enhance society’s capacity to pursue important goals such as justice, equity and sustainable environmental objectives as well as community services obligations. The public sector should be well resourced, both in its finances and the people it employs, to enable the delivery of quality services to the community. There is no doubt that the public sector and public sector workers are the lifeblood of Government and administration, and that Government could not function without them. A frank and fearless public service is critical to a functioning democracy. 

We believe that the Government should lead by example in providing a modern workplace that helps people maintain a work-life balance. Workplace laws – and the public sector as a model employer – should ensure people have a secure job, a good balance between working, personal and family life, and protect people’s rights at work. We want to reduce casualisation, contract employment, and other forms of insecure work in the workforce and believe that the Government needs to lead by example by providing stable and secure work in the public sector.

The Greens will:

Everyone deserves safe and secure work. We view work as something which should be rewarding, enriching, and the basis of our families’, communities’, and state’s welfare and prosperity. South Australia must have a fair and equitable industrial relations system for all workers. Workers deserve work laws which provide them with the protections, rights and responsibilities that come with a just and sustainable society. We believe that workplaces should provide better work-life balance, with people having more control over their working arrangements and options for flexible working practices, balanced against the legitimate operational needs of the employer.

We know South Australia faces the highest rate of insecure work in mainland Australia and the lowest average hourly wage in the nation. This is shameful. We need to ensure that South Australians have pathways to more secure and better paying work, and that provides them with their well-deserved entitlements. The Greens believe that everyone should have access to portable long service leave, and want to amend legislation to make this possible. This is essential as we recognise that increasingly people are more likely to work for multiple employers during their working lives.

The Greens will make workplaces fairer and safer, and ensure people have more secure work. We will:

Embracing new co-operative ways of owning and organising economic activity is an excellent opportunity to strengthen the South Australian economy. South Australia already has a rich co-operative history, and we should be building upon it to secure our future economic and social prosperity. By investing in and supporting locally owned co-operative and mutual enterprises we add diversity into our local economy, and can develop South Australia into an entrepreneurial and community wealth-building state. This not only benefits us economically but improves the wellbeing of individuals and builds resilient communities.

Co-operatives are a democratic business model, where workers and other members decide what to do with the value they create. They benefit our community as more value is distributed in the community in most cases, through higher wages and local purchasing. Co-operatives also tend to be more productive as there is a far higher level of engagement from workers in their business.  Importantly, history has also shown us that co-operatives and mutuals are here for the long haul - both during good times and hard times. We need that kind of stability in our work and in our economy now more than ever.

The Greens believe that we can shift our economy, and our businesses and workforce, towards a more caring and community-focused model. Encouraging more co-operatives in South Australia is an excellent way to do this.

The Greens will: