Senate debates

Thursday, 3 November 2011

Questions without Notice

Workplace Relations

2:07 pm

Photo of Chris EvansChris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Marshall for his ongoing interest in workplace relations issues. When Labor introduced the Fair Work Act we delivered on our commitment to replace the extreme Work Choices laws with a system that ensures that the dignity and rewards of work are protected.

Work Choices allowed workers to be stripped of basic entitlements and to be fired for any reason or for no reason at all. It encouraged a model of economic growth based on a race to the bottom, where the only way to compete was to undermine the employment safety nets. The Fair Work Act ensures that growth and prosperity in Australia are built on the back of fair and productive work practices.

The Fair Work Act replaced the set of only five minimum conditions provided under Work Choices with a safety net consisting of 10 national employment standards and a system of modern industry awards. Unlike Work Choices the safety net under the Fair Work Act is a real safety net that guarantees protection for basic employment rights. By abolishing the take-it-or-leave-it AWAs, or individual contracts, and requiring that all new agreements be subject to a 'better off overall' test, we have ensured that the safety net cannot be stripped away.

The Fair Work Act is supporting fair industrial relations in this country. We have seen real wages increase over the life of the Fair Work Act as people are treated appropriately, without seeing their conditions stripped away, and have the dignity of proper, fair and balanced industrial relations. The confidence they can have in their employment and their treatment is good for the whole economy, because it allows them to approach life knowing that they will be treated fairly and can make decisions based on expectations of being treated appropriately.

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