The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: I rise to speak in support of this bill. I am pleased to see steps being taken here in this parliament to ensure that South Australians will have pathways to more secure working conditions if they work in the community sector. The expansion of portable long service leave recognises that increasingly people are more likely to work for multiple employers during their working lives. The Greens are really pleased to see the community sector workers being included, finally, along with construction workers in such a scheme.

Community sector workers carry out critical frontline work for our community every day. This includes support and service workers in areas including disability, domestic and family violence, community development services, mental health services, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community services, to name just a few. We are very pleased to see that the definition of 'community
services' is quite broad. We want to see as many workers as possible captured in the scheme.

While members have seen amendments filed in my name that seek to add sexual assault and sexual violence services to the list of services included in this bill, I note in a briefing from the minister's office that I was assured that that is already covered by the definition. I will seek an assurance of that in the second reading conclusion or first clause of the committee stage so that I need not progress with that.

Sexual assault and sexual violence services of course are part of this sector and must be included when we talk about community service jobs. It is important to note that these services are not the same as family and domestic violence services and they do provide specialist dedicated frontline trauma-informed support and services to victims and survivors of sexual assault and sexual violence, and they are an important inclusion in this scheme.

The introduction of portable long service leave for community sector workers will see tens of thousands of workers better off. They will be able to access this vital industrial right. I have a child who is now 16. Before her birth I worked in the community sector. I have just done the sums: I worked for two years for Amnesty International, five years for the YWCA and two years for the Mental Health Coalition of South Australia. If I had had this scheme around I possibly could have taken long service leave just before the birth of my child, which would have been very handy. I remember wearing a little pale green ribbon as part of the ASU campaign, back in possibly around 2006 or so, so this change is a long time coming and should come as a surprise to no-one in this place.

Not only was it a Malinauskas political promise in opposition to do this should they come to government, it is a long-fought and now hard-won campaign. Schemes like this already exist. One was established in the ACT in 2010, it has existed in Victoria since 2018, in Queensland since 2021 and in both the Northern Territory and New South Wales since 2024. It is high time South Australia caught up. A number of those jurisdictions have since gone further, with the inclusion of other workers such as cleaners, teachers and nurses in portable long service leave schemes.

Back in 2006 or so, I remember also that this was the sector that had to fight for wage equity. Being a heavily feminised sector, we have been paid less for the same work for a very damn long
time. That changed and this can too. Ultimately, the Greens would like to see portable long service leave extended to all workers. There are industries that have high rates of casualisation. Contract workers and those who work within the gig economy seem to be those who I think would greatly benefit from being included in portable long service leave schemes.

I note the words of Connie Bonaros: this is already an entitlement the employer is required to accrue on behalf of the employee. It is just that quite often these employees—in jobs where they support those in the community at that coalface and are often literally paid not much more or even sometimes less than those they are supporting—are on very short-term contracts. Often that is entirely within the remit of the government to have controlled, and they are often left between jobs, waiting to see if their contract will be renewed, waiting for the government, in particular, to make up their mind and certainly subject to far too short-term arrangements and precarious employment.

It is no wonder that this industry sees a high turnover of workers and many within the sector not only struggling just to get by but struggling with that uncertainty of those short-term contracts. This is the least we can do to support them. There are workers who have contributed to this industry well in excess of the required seven years and yet, due to the nature of their employment, have no entitlement to long service leave although their employer has been required to accrue it across the various jobs they have held.

I am pleased that this legislation will change that and we will see further support for those who support vulnerable and marginalised people in our community, those who do very valuable work and who deserve better not just from this parliament but from their employers. With that, I commend the bill.