Ms JENNY AITCHISON (Maitland) (18:14): The Parliamentary Alliance to Make Amazon Pay [PAMAP] brings together legislators from around the world to share ideas, legislative activity and coordinated action to make Amazon pay. I am proud to have joined PAMAP to help drive political action for workers, the environment and tax justice. The Transport Workers Union, the Australian Workers' Union, the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association and several other Australian unions are members of the Make Amazon Pay coalition. The coalition of workers, activists and citizens around the world seek to make Amazon pay its workers, its environmental costs and its taxes. Amazon continues to wreak devastating effects on the transport industry through the Amazon effect of cost cutting and exploitative competition, and through the unregulated Amazon Flex delivery platform that undercuts good, safe and secure jobs in the industry.

In the next stage of the Make Amazon Pay campaign, parliamentarians have been asked to join the Parliamentary Alliance to Make Amazon Pay. I look forward to hearing more about the movement at a briefing next Tuesday. As someone who has worked in the transport industry for nearly two decades before entering Parliament, and for nearly three decades in the retail industry, I support those workers. It is really important to harness the technology of online shopping to support local businesses, workers and communities. Those big multinational companies act in ways that are really sad. This is an opportunity to support local businesses. Companies like Birdsnest in Cooma and other small businesses have pivoted online in the pandemic to bring much‑needed economic activity and business to their community.

The use of online platforms can provide much-needed work in areas where there would be no economic activity without it, yet we see employers undercutting small businesses, paying incorrect wages and doing the wrong thing. We must address the maintenance of dignified work in our community. The Parliamentary Alliance to Make Amazon Pay will connect parliamentarians around the world in the work towards social, environmental and tax justice against corporate monopolies; organise transnational meetings between interested parliamentarians to coordinate legislative and other actions; and provide a global political voice challenging Amazon alongside the movements that are on the front line of the struggle.

Amazon has dodged and dismissed its debts to workers, societies and the planet for too long by playing one jurisdiction against the other. We must stand against large multinational corporations that do not support workers in our regions, particularly in New South Wales, where we have small communities that rely on local retailers and workers to support them. My local businesses sponsor community sport, events and services, yet they must compete on an uneven playing field with a multinational company that does not provide support to our regional communities—that makes me sick. I hope that all members of the House will join the alliance and work together to ensure the economic prosperity and development of all businesses in our communities, and to pursue the health, safety and economic prosperity of people who live and work in our communities.