Greg Combet (Charlton, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Procurement) Share this | Hansard source

People will get a pay increase and they will negotiate with their employer about productivity related matters at a workplace level, where employee rights are properly respected and where the legitimate interests of employers and their commercial interests are also properly respected. That is the basis of a decent system.

The real economic problems are those that have been bequeathed to this country by the former Howard government: the skills shortage, the deficit of investment in infrastructure, the lack of fiscal discipline, the failure to encourage innovation and research and development, the failure to prepare for an ageing population and ensure sufficient retirement savings and the poor international trading performance, despite a 60 per cent improvement in Australia’s terms of trade. This is what the former Howard government should have been focusing on rather than exacting punishment on ordinary working people through its workplace relations legislation.

By contrast, the government is focusing on the future and is already well advanced in laying out our framework for a modern economy. At the end of the day, that is very important—looking to the future and laying out the basis for future economic prosperity and fairness and justice in the workplace and the wider society. As a new member it gives me immense pleasure to support this bill, as I know that it will lead to important protections for employees in the workplace and a balanced industrial relations system which also respects the rights of business. I commend it to the House.

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