Ms JODIE HARRISON (Charlestown—Minister for Women, Minister for Seniors, and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault) (15:11): I contribute to debate on the Contract Cleaning Industry (Portable Long Service Leave Scheme) Amendment Bill 2026. At the outset, I thank Minister Cotsis for her consistent and hard work in this area. This is the right thing to do. It is the right thing to do for the people of New South Wales. It is the right thing to do for people within our schools. It is certainly the right thing to do for the cleaners in our schools. The Minns Labor Government makes no apologies for supporting high‑paying, secure and good quality jobs for working people in New South Wales. After 12 years of wage suppression under the former Government, we removed the unfair wages cap because we value public sector workers.
Members on the other side support outsourced labour. For too long, the work of school cleaners in New South Wales has been outsourced through private cleaning contracts. I recognise that you, Madam Deputy Speaker, have consistently advocated against that over your time in Parliament. Private cleaning contracts not only reduce worker pay and conditions but also result in job insecurity. School cleaners are left wondering if they will still have a job when their contract expires. On this side of the House, we listened to the concerns of workers and the community. Whether it be the consistency and reliability of cleaning standards in schools or the working conditions of cleaners, it was clear the status quo was not working. That is why the Minns Labor Government reviewed school cleaning contracts as one of its election commitments.
The outcome of that review was to transfer responsibility for whole-of-government cleaning contracts in‑house to the Department of Education. On 1 January 2026 the new Crown Employees (Department of Education) Cleaning Award 2026 came into effect. For the first time in 30 years, hundreds of cleaners in the Hunter and Central Coast are being offered secure, flexible and permanent jobs directly within the public service. That includes 60 workers in suburbs right across my electorate of Charlestown, including Adamstown, Adamstown Heights, Belmont North, Cardiff, Cardiff South, Charlestown, Gateshead, Kotara South, New Lambton, Warners Bay, Whitebridge and Windale. The bill before the House builds on that achievement.
As part of the insourcing process, the Government committed to recognising the portable long service leave entitlements of contract cleaners transferring to public service employment in the Hunter and Central Coast. The contract cleaning industry scheme is governed under the Contract Cleaning Industry (Portable Long Service Leave Scheme) Act 2010. Under that Act, the New South Wales Government is excluded from being an employer in the scheme. That means that without this legislative reform, insourced workers would be prevented from using long service leave entitlements accrued through the portable scheme. It is plainly unfair for cleaners who have worked at the same school for years to have their long service leave entitlements wound back to zero.
Under the scheme, workers are entitled to long service leave after ten years of service, funded through a 1 per cent levy on industry employers. They deserve that break. The bill will ensure that a worker's prior service and associated entitlements are transferred to the Department of Education. They will be able to take leave as though all of their service had been undertaken in the public service. Furthermore, the current legislative framework does not allow the Long Service Corporation, as a statutory corporation, to transfer money to the Crown to cover liabilities associated with transferred entitlements. Put simply, there is no legal path to allow the Long Service Corporation to transfer money to the New South Wales Government.
The bill is designed to resolve that issue by amending the Contract Cleaning Industry (Portable Long Service Leave Scheme) Act 2010 to enable the transfer of funds from the Long Service Corporation to the New South Wales Government. That will ensure that the Government can honour worker entitlements while minimising the impact on the budget. I acknowledge and thank the stakeholders involved in consultation on the bill. That includes the United Workers Union—of which I am a proud member—and the contract cleaning industry committee, which includes Unions NSW and the Building Service Contractors Association of Australia. The input of government agencies, including the Long Service Corporation, the Department of Education, Treasury and the Premier's Department, has also been valued.
The portable long service leave scheme is a proud Labor legacy in New South Wales. The principle behind it is simple: People who work in the same industry for years on end deserve long service leave entitlements, even if the company they work for changes. The Minns Labor Government has a strong track record of backing the wages and conditions of working people in this State. This bill represents another step forward for a cohort of workers who have traditionally been left behind, particularly by members opposite. I commend the bill to the House.
