1.1
The Senate Select Committee on Work and Care (committee) was appointed by resolution of the Senate on 3 August 2022, to inquire into and report on the following matters:
(a)
the extent and nature of the combination of work and care across Australia and the impact of changes in demographic and labour force patterns on work-care arrangements in recent decades;
(b)
the impact of combining various types of work and care (including of children, the aged, those with disability) upon the wellbeing of workers, carers and those they care for;
(c)
the adequacy of workplace laws in relation to work and care and proposals for reform;
(d)
the adequacy of current work and care supports, systems, legislation and other relevant policies across Australian workplaces and society;
(e)
consideration of the impact on work and care of different hours and conditions of work, job security, work flexibility and related workplace arrangements;
(f)
the impact and lessons arising from the COVID-19 crisis for Australia's system of work and care;
(g)
consideration of gendered, regional and socio-economic differences in experience and in potential responses including for First Nations working carers, and potential workers;
(h)
consideration of differences in experience of disabled people, workers who support them, and those who undertake informal caring roles;
(i)
consideration of the policies, practices and support services that have been most effective in supporting the combination of work and care in Australia, and overseas; and
1.2
On 18 October 2022, the committee tabled a substantive interim report, making eight recommendations. The committee's final report was to be tabled by the second sitting Tuesday in February 2023, and the Senate later agreed to extend this date to 9 March 2023.
Conduct of the inquiry
1.3
Details of the inquiry were made available on the committee's webpage and the committee invited organisations, key stakeholders and individuals to provide submissions. The committee issued several media releases calling for submissions—including after the National Jobs and Skills Summit (Summit).
1.4
The committee published 125 submissions, which are listed at Appendix 1 of this report. The committee held the following public hearings for the inquiry:
16 September 2022 in Canberra;
20 September 2022 in Melbourne;
21 September 2022 in Sydney;
7 October 2022 in Canberra;
31 October 2022 in Brisbane;
14 November 2022 in Perth;
15 November 2022 in Albany;
6 December 2022 in Adelaide;
8 December 2022 in Canberra;
20 December 2022 in Sydney; and
30 January 2023 in Sydney.
1.5
The committee also undertook a site visit to the Amazon Fulfilment Centre in Kemps Creek, Western Sydney, on 30 January 2023.
1.6
A list of witnesses who gave evidence at the above hearings is available at Appendix 2 of this report.
Acknowledgment
1.7
The committee thanks all those who contributed to this inquiry by making submissions, providing additional information and research to the committee, and appearing at public hearings.
1.8
As with its interim report, the committee remains grateful to all those who have trusted the committee with their personal stories. Without the examples of people's experiences of trying to combine work and care, the committee could not have properly contemplated and understood the issues. Thank you also for the invaluable contributions from researchers and experts, who provided the committee with important evidence about the work and care system.
Interim report
1.9
The committee's Interim Report made clear that the current architecture of the work and care system cannot properly support working carers, with a growing number of Australian workers having care responsibilities for someone else. The system's inadequacies are disproportionately experienced by women, who often find themselves as 'sandwich carers'—caring for both young children and older parents.
1.10
The issues and needs of working carers were considered in the Interim Report's executive summary:
Millions of Australians balance work and care. They seek and need to maintain a job and income security, with adequate wages, active participation and flexibility in the workforce, access to appropriate leave entitlements, and a supportive care system for those who need it. This includes access to affordable and suitable respite and early childhood education and care (ECEC), as well as appropriate and targeted aged care, health care and disability support services along with employment opportunities.
However, the architecture of work and care is not adequate to our current challenges—let alone our future. It has not adapted adequately to our changing work and social system.
As a result, many of those with caring responsibilities who would like a job cannot work, while others work less hours than they would prefer or are subject to constant roster variations and the insecurity that brings to family life. For some, combining work and care creates stress, or puts pressure on grandparents or other unpaid carers, because work is inflexible, or the care system is inadequate or unaffordable.
The Australian workforce in the care economy is in crisis, facing low wages, overwork, understaffing, and a lack of respect—driving many childcare and aged care workers to leave a job that they love.
Interim report recommendations
1.11
The committee made eight recommendations in its Interim Report, aimed at those areas where more immediate changes could be made to improve the experience of working carers, and to address the issue of 'data poverty' to better determine the extent, nature and effects of the intersection of work and care responsibilities.
1.12
The committee recommended that:
new questions be included in the Census, or a new regular survey be undertaken of a representative group, to collect data every five years which would allow analysis of the extent and nature of the interaction of work and care responsibilities across Australia;
the Government develop an analysis of care work classifications and wage structures to systematically address underpayments and lift wages in the care sector;
the Fair Work Act 2009 (Fair Work Act) be amended to make the right to request flexible work available to all workers, and other associated conditions;
the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations amend the Fair Work Act National Employment Standards (NES) to include a right to disconnect with an enforcement mechanism;
the Fair Work Act be amended to provide improved rostering rights for employees, including predictability, stability and fixed‑shift scheduling;
the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010 be amended to legislate a paid parental leave period of 26 weeks;
the 2022-23 Budget (which at that stage was imminent) include long‑term increases in funding to First Nations community-controlled ECEC; and
the relevant social policy and family assistance laws be amended so that First Nations people were not required to meet activity tests to receive subsidised childcare.
1.13
The committee notes that at the time of presenting this final report, the Australian Government has yet to respond to the recommendations from the interim report within the required three‑month period. The committee calls on the Australian Government to respond as soon as possible.
Other relevant inquiries
1.14
The Interim Report also drew attention to several other inquiries and reviews running concurrently with the committee's work. These inquiries include:
the Productivity Commission's inquiry into carer's leave;
the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) examination of the cost of childcare; and
development of the Employment White Paper.
1.15
These are in addition to the outcomes of the Summit, where agreements were reached in relation to, among other things:
skilling and training the workforce;
addressing skills shortages;
boosting job security and wages;
creating safe, fair and productive workplaces; and
promoting equal opportunities and reducing barriers to employment.
1.16
The findings and recommendations of these inquiries and the outcomes of the Summit, along with implementation of the recommendations of this committee, should work together to significantly improve the nation's work and care architecture and better support Australian workers over the course of their life.
The interim and final report
1.17
While the committee's Interim Report and this final report can be read separately, the committee encourages readers to consider both reports as complementary. The evidence received by the committee shows that the issues around work, care, gender, childcare and financial security are interconnected and cannot be considered in isolation.
1.18
This final report builds upon, and expands, the recommendations of the Interim Report, offering a more complete response to the current work and care crisis that this final report more fulsomely documents.
Report structure
1.19
This report consists of eight chapters, considering discrete issues within the work and care system over the course of people's lives, and concluding with recommendations for holistic changes and improvements to that system.
1.20
Chapter 2 provides a contextual overview of the structural barriers and social inequalities in Australian society and workplaces. The chapter considers how these conditions are reinforcing gender and other inequalities, devaluing care work and failing to improve women's equal participation in the workforce.
1.21
Chapter 3 looks at the ECEC system and presents evidence on the current ECEC and Paid Parental Leave (PPL) systems, concluding with suggestions on how both can be improved.
1.22
Chapter 4 looks more closely at the unique work and care circumstances facing specific cohorts—young people, migrant and culturally and linguistically diverse communities, First Nations communities and disabled people.
1.23
Chapter 5 examines the undervaluation and conditions of paid and unpaid care and their consequences for working carers, those they care for as well as the workforce and our economy.
1.24
Chapter 6 details the evidence received about the importance of predictable working hours, roster justice and job security. It considers the evidence regarding the right to disconnect and how workplaces could implement more flexible arrangements to help people better manage their work and care responsibilities. It specifically considers the viability and benefits of a four‑day working week for working carers, and in particular, women.
1.25
Chapter 7 examines the financial supports available to working carers, including the JobSeeker payment, as well as the leave entitlements available under the NES, such paid and unpaid carer's leave, and PPL.
1.26
The committee's view and recommendations are contained in the final chapter which focuses on fixing the architecture of the work and care system, making sure it better aligns with the experiences of working carers and promotes women's engagement with paid employment throughout their working lives.