Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in support of the Fair Work Amendment (State Referrals and Other Measures) Bill 2009, and it is a pleasure to follow on from the member for Indi, obviously a committed Work Choices supporter. This bill is subsequent to the Fair Work (State Referral and Consequential and Other Amendments) Act 2009, which mainly dealt with the referral from Victoria to the Commonwealth of powers to make laws in relation to industrial matters. With this bill, the government is continuing to implement its plan for a single national workplace relations system.

As a member from Victoria, I would like to address the history in Victoria with regard to state referrals of workplace relations powers. This is a particularly sorry case study in how not to refer state powers to the Commonwealth. Victoria had previously referred most of its workplace relations powers firstly in 1997 under the Kennett Liberal state government and then in 2003 under the Bracks Labor state government. It must be noted, however, that in its first term the Bracks government did try to reclaim the state IR system. That was blocked by the Liberal controlled Legislative Council at the time. The remaining workplace relations powers in Victoria were transferred to the Commonwealth earlier this year with the passage of the Fair Work (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Bill 2009 and Fair Work (State Referral and Consequential and Other Amendments) Bill 2009. In effect, there had been no state workplace relations system for most workers since 1997 in Victoria, although there are some exceptions to this that I will now highlight.

No-one should ever forget the more than 350,000 workers who were stranded under the infamous schedule 1A of Peter Reith’s Workplace Relations Act 1996. That added up to a figure estimated to cover 21 per cent of the state’s workforce at the time. This was the result of a partial referral of Victoria’s IR powers under the state of Victoria’s Commonwealth Powers (Industrial Relations) Act 1996. These workers under schedule 1A were effectively cut off. Denied access to full federal award coverage, they received only five basic conditions—and they were very basic: four weeks annual leave with no loading; one week of paid sick leave; unpaid parental leave; notice of termination; and pay for the first 38 hours of work in a week—no overtime and not necessarily any pay for hours beyond that. It was the Bracks Labor government that remedied this appalling situation in 2003 with the passing of the Federal Awards (Uniform System) Act 2003. This state act referred the necessary powers to the Commonwealth that would then allow for common rule orders to be applied to federal awards in Victoria.

Since that time of course the industrial relations landscape has changed. We saw the Liberal Party, the party of Work Choices, ram through the last parliament legislation that not only denied working people the right to fairness but literally took away already agreed wages and conditions. That the Liberal Party did this without any meaningful debate, consultation or discussion outside their own party room or their cheer squad of right-wing, hardline supporters showed their contempt for the working people of Australia. This contempt for working people was not lessened with their loss of government or changes of leadership. It is there for all to see in their actions in this current parliament.

Although Work Choices was promoted as a national system it fell short of this aim. Apart from being widely despised and resoundingly rejected by the electorate, Work Choices covered around 80 per cent of private sector employees—that is, one in five private sector employees were not covered by the system. These workers might have been employed by charities, partnerships, sole traders, trusts or various other types of unincorporated trading entities, and it took the election of the Rudd Labor government in 2007 and the implementation of our Forward with Fairness policy to turn this around. Creating a uniform national workplace relations system was a key commitment of this policy and, unlike the Liberal and National parties’ lack of consultation, the Rudd Labor government consulted very widely. We discussed, we listened and we changed parts of the bill during the many long months in negotiations with industry associations, employers, academics, unions and other political parties to see the Fair Work Act finally passed through parliament earlier this year.

The commencement of the Fair Work Act brought with it the opportunity to deliver a balanced and modern workplace relations system for Australia. This is a fair and balanced process that, unlike the disastrous Victorian transfer of workplace relations powers, allows for the transfer of state systems to the uniform national system without trapping workers outside award coverage. While the Commonwealth has the power to legislate in the area of workplace relations for most employees, the corporations power of the Constitution on which the Commonwealth relies is limited in its scope, as it applies only to foreign corporations and financial or trading corporations. The precise definition of that is still unclear to many people. Under this power, the Fair Work Act applies only to these constitutional corporations, the Commonwealth and its authorities, and employers who employ flight crews, maritime employees or waterside workers in connection with interstate or overseas trade or commerce.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has said that, while 80.5 per cent of private sector employees fall definitively within the federal system and 1.6 per cent fall definitively within the state system, jurisdictional coverage of the remaining 17.9 per cent of private sector employees remains unclear. Professor Andrew Stewart, who was recently elected President of the Australian Labour Law Association, has argued:

If passed, the State Referrals Bill will help to create a clear and consistent delineation between federal and State industrial laws.

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The uncertainty over the status of incorporated local government employers, and certain other incorporated government business enterprises, will also be resolved.

Importantly, this bill provides for the application of the National Employment Standards and minimum wages to all national system employees from the start day of the referred powers, and when a state refers their powers to deal with industrial matters this bill will extend the coverage of the Fair Work Act 2009 to unincorporated employers and their employees as well as outwork entities and their employees in that state.

This bill also covers the private sector in respect of state instruments, such as awards and enterprise agreements, that can be referred to the Commonwealth. There is also an option that allows a state to keep in place their own workplace relations system in respect of public servants and local government employees. Having overlapping federal and state workplace relations systems results in uncertainty for employers and employees, increased costs to businesses to comply with the different systems and increased costs to the government to administer, clear inefficiencies and national inconsistencies that need to be ironed out in an advanced economy such as Australia’s. Providing greater certainty to businesses and employers will help avoid confusion and cut red tape. Support for a single national system has been expressed for some time by employer groups, with the Australian Industry Group stating:

Australia’s modern economy and the need to remain globally competitive necessitates that a national system be implemented.

It goes on:

All Australian employees and employers in the private sector should have the same system for employee entitlements and employment obligations.

I note that some employer groups and the opposition have expressed concern over states possibly having an effective power of veto over amendments. As the Senate Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee noted, the right of veto by states exists already with each state having the capacity to terminate a referral of powers. I note also that in the same report the dissenting report by the coalition senators criticised the alleged lack of consultation of the government. I really have to reject that claim and I point out that the Australian people were not once, not ever, consulted before the Liberal Party imposed Work Choices. In its submission to the Senate committee inquiry, the ACTU said: ‘We applaud the consultative approach adopted by the government in working with referring states to determine the scope of their referrals and the transitional arrangements that will apply to employees and employers transferring from the state systems.’

It has been very pleasing to witness the cooperation of the states in this area and, while Victoria referred its powers some years ago and remade its referral earlier this year, as I have already mentioned, we have since seen Tasmania and Queensland refer their powers, whilst referral legislation is currently before the South Australian parliament. The ministers for industrial relations in those states have commended the Fair Work system and the government’s approach to workplace relations reform.

In South Australia, the Minister for Industrial Relations, the Hon. Paul Caica, in his second reading speech to that state’s parliament, said that referral of IR powers would give South Australians:

… an industrial relations system built on the foundation of a strong safety net; access to collective bargaining, including for the low paid; and protection of workplace rights.

The Tasmanian Minister for Workplace Relations, the Hon. Lisa Singh, in that parliament, said that the Fair Work system:

… will ensure that Tasmanian workers enjoy the benefits of a contemporary workplace relations system, comprising a safety net of employee conditions and other arrangements that apply nationally and are at least as good as those under Tasmania’s Industrial Relations Act.

She went on:

Employers will also enjoy the benefits of safety-net conditions and other arrangements with added flexibility or employer protection.

In the Queensland parliament, the Minister for Industrial Relations, the Hon. Cameron Dick, highlighted:

… the Rudd Labor government has been very co-operative in its dealings with Queensland and the other states and territories on the introduction of a national industrial relations system.

Compare that approach to that of the previous government. He went on:

The resulting system sets aside the WorkChoices approach to industrial relations and restores the balance of power to best look after the interests of both employers and employees.

As we can see, the government’s approach to creating a single national system has been endorsed by state governments, employer groups and the ACTU. The increased simplicity of a single national system will also deliver cost savings. State governments currently spend over $60 million each year maintaining duplicative administrative functions and accompanying regulations, costs which can and will be avoided with the transition to a national system.

Although many people like to think that Work Choices is now dead, it is not. It lives on in the hearts and minds of those opposite and, even more tellingly, it shows through in their actions in this parliament day after day. Have no doubt, the Liberal Party is still the party of Work Choices and, if it is left up to them, Work Choices will be back, bigger and badder than ever. We have already heard during this debate their wishes to abolish penalty rates and unfair dismissals and to bring back their beloved AWAs. The passage of this bill will mark the next step in Australia’s transition to a uniform national workplace relations system for the private sector. Although this bill does not mark the completion of this goal, it is an important step in doing so. More importantly, it is another component in the Rudd Labor government’s plan for a fair and effective national workplace relations system.

The Fair Work Act is built on the foundations of fairness for working people, flexibility for business, cooperation between employers and employees, and the promotion of productivity and economic growth for the future prosperity of our nation. I commend the bill to the House.

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