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Image: Amazon

Amazon Australia has announced plans to open a second fulfilment centre in Melbourne, Victoria late next year.

With construction in Ravenhall, Melbourne already underway, the new centre, according to the global e-commerce giant, will more than double the company's footprint in Victoria. 

"Our investment in this new Melbourne fulfilment centre will benefit customers around Victoria, while creating hundreds of jobs for Melbournians in a safe work environment, with competitive pay at a time when they are needed most," Amazon Australia director of operations Craig Fuller said.

"This fulfilment centre will also provide additional capacity for Victorian-based small and medium-sized businesses who utilise the Fulfilment By Amazon service to benefit from our expanded capability and seamlessly serve customers across the country."

When completed, the new centre will be 37,000 square metres, with capacity to house up to six million items from its online store.

It will bring the total number of Amazon fulfilment centres in Australia to six. The e-commerce giant opened its first Australian fulfilment centre in Melbourne[1] in December 2017, followed by centres in Sydney and Perth in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

In June, Amazon also announced it would be opening a fulfilment warehouse in Brisbane[2] and another in Sydney[3].

See also: Amazon announces four new projects to make its data centers greener[4]

A report by the ABC[5] identified that employees of Amazon Australia are constantly being monitored and timed to fulfil orders, with one describing the working conditions as being so extreme it made them feel "dehumanised". 

"I feel like they resent the fact that I'm not a robot and that I'm made of flesh and bone," the person identified as Amazonian One said. 

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