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Stop Booting Jobs Off-Shore

Press Releases March 30 2009

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Family First will introduce legislation in the next parliamentary sitting that will stop call-centre jobs being booted offshore, Family First Leader Senator Steve Fielding said today.

“Our proposed legislation, called the Keeping Jobs From Going Offshore Bill, will ensure Aussie call centre jobs stay in Australia rather than outsourcing them to Asia and other countries,” Senator Fielding said.

“We have to put a stop to the ridiculous practice of outsourcing Aussie jobs to other countries and give ordinary Australians a say on who has private information about them and whether jobs are sent off-shore. When Australians call their bank or phone companies they want to speak to an operator who is based in Australia not someone in India or the Philippines.”

Senator Fielding’s comments came as the ANZ became the latest company to send jobs offshore, slashing 100 call centre positions in a repeat of job cuts already taken by Telstra and Optus.

“The Keeping Jobs from Going OffShore Bill prohibits the transfer of personal information by any business to anyone outside Australia without the written consent of the individual.

“This measure will make it more difficult to send jobs off-shore.

“Under this legislation, companies will need to write to every single customer and gain their written consent prior to transferring customer data overseas. In effect individuals will have to opt-in to allow their private information to be given to an overseas subcontractor in a country without adequate privacy protection.

“Big business in Australia makes huge profits on the back of job cuts and it is Australian workers and families that pay the cost with the loss of local jobs.

“This legislation gives the power to outsource these jobs back to ordinary Australians.

“The US is also considering similar legislation in an effort to protect local jobs. At this time when keeping Australian workers in jobs must be our first priority, it is wrong for companies to ship jobs overseas at the expense of Australian workers and families.

“Australians are sick and tired of call centre jobs being given to other countries when we are already being warned by the Rudd government that our unemployment queues will swell with more than 300,000 Australians expected to be without a job next year.

“Australians are also sick of annoying phone calls from overseas operators who can’t provide them with the service they require.”