Another day, another Senate inquiry – this time into Australia’s federal laws dealing with “wage theft”.

Wage theft became a federal crime on January 1 2025. Employers who deliberately “steal” from their workers’ pay can now be prosecuted and subject to hefty criminal fines, even jail time.

But in the 15 months since the law came into effect, the Fair Work Ombudsman has reported only two criminal investigations into wage theft and there have been zero prosecutions.

This has raised questions about whether the new criminal wage theft offence is really having an impact.

Senator Fatima Payman has secured a new Senate inquiry into the laws. But the Labor government has opposed this inquiry, pointing to another review that is already underway.

Wage theft remains a problem in Australia, and there are issues with enforcement the country must address. But there are also concerns about whether this Senate inquiry is actually needed and if it’s going to yield useful insights.

There have been several high-profile cases of underpayment in Australia. It’s hard to forget the 7-Eleven wage-theft scandal of 2015. That resulted in reported back-payments of more than A$170 million, but only around $1.8 million in penalties.

But this case and others played out before wage theft........

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