Mr REPACHOLI (Hunter) (18:24): 

 I would like to say a few things. I heard the last two speakers, and they have been very unhappy about the right to disconnect. The right to disconnect is a big thing that we needed to bring forward, and the Greens have done that with us. It's a fantastic thing that we have brought forward. Why should you be interrupted during a weekend or after hours by your manager, the owner of the business or whoever it is for something that is not needed and that can be spoken about the next day? Why does that need to happen? The right to disconnect is a fantastic thing. They're saying there will be court case after court case. The USU currently has this in their New South Wales EA agreement right now. They haven't had a single court case, and it's been in since July last year.

They're also talking about the same job, same pay and the closing labour hire loopholes legislation. This is one of the best things that could happen in the Hunter. I ran my whole campaign in the Hunter on this, around people working in the mining industry getting paid up to $50,000 less for doing the same job. There are two of you guys in here right now. How do you think that's fair? It's not fair. You all know that, just as I do. In the regions where the mineworkers work hard, long hours, it's definitely not fair.

Opposition members interjecting—

Mr REPACHOLI: I love the mining industry. I came from the mining industry.

Mr Pasin: There should be more of it on your side!

Mr REPACHOLI: We do love the mining industry. While people want to buy our coal, we will always supply them our coal. But let's not forget that the mining industry isn't just coal. The mining industry is critical minerals, gold and so many other things as well. People think the mining industry is only coal. I come from a coal background. As I said, I love coal and, while people want to buy our coal, we will always supply our coal to whoever wants to buy it.

Mr Pasin: Uranium?

Mr REPACHOLI: We have uranium, too. We have some of the best uranium supplies in the world. We have the best lithium supplies in the world as well. We have critical minerals. There is so much here.

Mr Pasin interjecting—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Wilkie ): I ask the member for Hunter to pause for a moment. I remind the member for Barker that the member for Hunter has every right to be heard.

Mr Pasin: I'm encouraging him!

Mr REPACHOLI: I can certainly tell you that, as much as the member for Barker would love me to, I will not be joining the Liberal Party. But thank you very much for the offer.

Mr Pasin interjecting—

Mr REPACHOLI: Back to it: why should mineworkers be getting paid up to $50,000 less for the exact same job? It's not fair. I fully support this all the way through. I know you guys don't, because not once did you guys speak about workers' rights when we were talking on this subject. Not once did any of you talk about workers' rights. We want bosses to make a dollar and the workers to make a dollar. We want it to be fair all round. That's what we're here for. The Australian Labor Party, led by Anthony Albanese, is doing a fantastic job. I'm so glad that Tony Burke and we as a party got the same job, same pay legislation through—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I remind the member for Hunter that you should be referring to members by their titles.

Mr REPACHOLI: Sorry about that. I'll make sure I do that in the future. Thank you for indulging me on that. Once again, we support same job, same pay, and we'll always support it. We will look after workers' rights. We also look after the owners of businesses by making sure we're doing what we're doing. We're giving them energy relief. We're providing so many things to make sure that businesses are staying alive and continuing to employ workers so that we have a thriving economy in Australia. We've just had some of the best times with what we've been working with recently, and we're going to continue that. The mining sector is going strong. We've got so much happening. The tourism sector is still going strong as well. There's a lot of work to do, but we're making sure we do it.