Across the country there are thousands of labour hire workers doing the same work as APS employees but being paid significantly less. For years, the CPSU has been campaigning to reduce the APS’s reliance on labour hire and outsourcing to support our members’ demands for secure jobs and fair pay.

In 2023, the union movement secured ‘same job, same pay’ laws, which aim to ensure that labour hire workers are paid the same as permanent workers for doing the same work. This protects the pay and conditions of APS workers and undermines the labour-hire business model.

The ATO outsources a significant amount of work to three contract call centre companies: Probe, Serco, and Concentrix. The CPSU has been applying pressure to bring these workers in-house in line with the Albanese Government’s Strategic Commissioning Framework (SCF).

The CPSU recently made an application to the Fair Work Commission using the Same Job Same Pay laws that, if successful, would see the pay of labour hire workers lifted. This serves as an important test case, the outcome of which may challenge the entire APS labour hire business model. If labour hire employers are forced to pay workers the same wages as APS employees, this could put pressure on the ATO to bring this core public service work back in house.

And it’s not just the ATO. Agencies including DEWR, NDIA, and Services Australia also outsource core work to labour hire agencies. CPSU members know from firsthand experience that excessive reliance on labour hire arrangements often leads to poorer outcomes for taxpayers and undermines trust in public services.

We’ll keep members updated as this campaign progresses.

Want to be involved in this campaign?

Workers in the ATO can email us at [email protected] to get involved.

If you are a labour hire worker engaged by Probe, Serco, or Concentrix to deliver ATO services, please help us win the Same Job Same Pay case by sharing your experience in our survey. Fill out the survey here.

Campaign media coverage

• The Guardian, 24 Nov 2025, ‘The whole thing stinks’: outsourced ATO call centre workers shocked by conditions as callers complain about inexperienced staff
• The Guardian, 26 Nov 2025, Worker at Australian Taxation Office call centre takes court action demanding ‘same job, same pay’
• The Guardian, 9 Dec 2025, ‘It feels as if I’m working for the ATO – except for the pay’: test case could put brakes on tax office outsourcing.
• The Guardian, 13 Dec 2025, The ATO is meant to be bringing work back in-house. But its target to cut consultants is ‘woefully inadequate’
• The Guardian, 15 Jan 2026, ‘Bizarre’ bonuses and sausage sizzles: how Australia’s outsource call centres try to lure in poorly paid workers
• The Guardian, 26 Jan 2026, Outsourced call centre staff at NDIS have to pretend to work for government, workers say