Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

it was a very unseemly spectacle—overthrowing the Rudd government’s idea of a truly national IR system. The creation of a single body called Fair Work Australia has been put off for some years, again leaving the Australian Industrial Relations Commission in limbo. It has been told it will cease to exist, that some of its members will be appointed to the new body and some will not—clearly an indication that those who behave according to the Rudd government’s agenda will be appointed and those who act independently will not. This also raises a number of logistical let alone constitutional issues, but that is legislation for another day.

The abolition of the Australian Building and Construction Commission is a matter of considerable concern to a great many in the building industry, but once more Labor has put that off, presumably beyond the next election date.

And there is the roll-back of the small business exemption from unfair dismissal laws. This is a matter of considerable concern to small businesses across Australia, for people who have been employed by small businesses since the introduction of the unfair dismissal exemption but particularly for the long-term unemployed. This exemption works for the benefit of long-term unemployed—those who would not otherwise get an opportunity for a job. Small business believe that, as long as they are not hampered by having to pay ‘go away’ money, they can give someone the opportunity to take on a job.

The exemption from unfair dismissal laws is all about the long-term unemployed. It is not about those with a job; the focus is on those who do not have a job. We have seen the most dramatic shift in the long-term unemployed in many, many years. Structural unemployment is very hard to shift, yet in Australia we have seen a dramatic decrease in the number of long-term unemployed because employers are giving people a go. Yet the roll-back of the small business exemption from unfair dismissal laws has been put off for another day. One could be forgiven for presuming that Labor wants to continue to reap the benefits of a decade of reforms for as long as possible before it has to pay back its debt to the unions. Why else would Labor not bring forward its laws to roll back the exemption from unfair dismissals? It would be a very simple piece of legislation. I am sure it could be drafted overnight, yet Labor has put it off to a much later date so that it can continue to reap the benefits of the long-term unemployed being given the opportunity of a job. The 4.1 per cent unemployment figure that we have seen recently has not come about by accident. It means there are more people in the workforce, and that includes long-term unemployed who are for the first time in a long time being given the chance of a job.

Given that the unions spent more money on an advertising campaign in the last federal election than both major parties combined, the unions will be demanding their pound of flesh. Today we read that the National Secretary of the CFMEU is ignoring the government’s calls for wage restraint, is ignoring the suggestion that wage claims should be based on productivity gains and is ignoring the fact that the ABCC has played an important part in cleaning up the building industry. We will see continuing disruptive union activity break out across this country. We have to ask what the government will do to prevent a wages breakout that will feed into inflation and that will lead to the kind of recession that Australia experienced in the 1990s, the last time Labor was in government.

Work Choices is no longer coalition policy. We will not oppose the passage of this bill. We will not oppose the abolition of AWAs. But we urge the government to support our proposed amendment to extend the Labor Party’s new individual contracts with the Labor Party’s own no disadvantage test. We urge the government to support this in the interests of a better, more flexible and fairer workplace that reflects the reality of workplaces and reflects the reality of the needs of employees and employers in the 21st century. It is time for Labor to admit that flexibility in the workplace is underpinning our economic reforms. I urge them to support our proposed amendment.

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