Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

The Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia's Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill 2020 comes down to this: under the cover of COVID, this government wants to bring back Work Choices. You can dress it up or knock it down as much as you like—that is the bottom line for this government.

We know that the government aspire to be the party of workers, because they've realised that it's the working families of Australia that will determine the next election. The reality is that the Prime Minister has worked out that if he says the word 'workers' enough he will appear to appeal to them. The reality is the Liberal Party and the coalition don't really care for workers. I think we've heard that from the member for Lyne as he wandered and meandered through industrial relations for the last 15 minutes. The PM's strategy is to mention the word 'workers' as many time he can, but is not putting anything behind that. It is a facade. This party, these Liberals, doesn't change. It is Work Choices, and we need to tell the Australian people that it is alive and well.

We know that the government's proposed changes to Australia's industrial relations laws will leave working people worse off. That is the bottom line. If you are a worker, you are going to be worse off under this government. We know that. Even with the government's removal of the proposed two-year suspension of the better off overall test—they've backflipped on that a bit—this bill still well and truly fails the pub test. Under this government, as a worker, you will be worse off.

For most workers, an enterprise bargaining agreement is a David versus Goliath battle. People know at work that you don't wander into the boss's office and sit down and have a coffee or a cup of tea and they'll say: 'Look, how are you going with it all? Would you like a bit more money?' It doesn't happen like that. People who are working absolutely know that that is not how enterprise bargaining happens. This legislation will make it even harder for employees—regular people who just want to work, earn their money, pay their mortgage and send their kids to good schools. They don't want the hassle of having to go in and try to bargain for an extra dollar an hour when they know that they're more than likely not going to get it. Employers have significantly more bargaining power. This government can't even sort out a reasonable award for its own staff. That's right—the pay agreement for members of parliament staff is a year overdue. This government can't even negotiate an enterprise bargain with the people who run Parliament House, so how do we trust them with the rest of Australia? This government wants to do over its own employees without whom this place wouldn't run.

The bill will cut bargaining rights and protection for workers whose pay and conditions are covered by agreements. It is as simple as that. It will undermine the critical function of the independent umpire, the Fair Work Commission. In Australia, we may not always agree with the umpire's decision, but, by golly, we respect it, and we know the umpire is important. The Fair Work Commission is the workers' umpire, and this government want to pull the whistle out of the mouth of the umpire for Australian workers. They need to be protected too.

The bill allows for the making of agreements that are below the safety net, cutting wages and creating unfair competition. In my electorate of Paterson, hospitality and retail are sizeable industries. We have over 2,000 people working as casual employees in grocery stores and 1,800 or thereabouts working as casuals in the fast food industry. The bill will result in fewer permanent jobs with rights, increasing the casualisation of the workforce and adding to those numbers. The casual conversion provisions of the bill are essentially meaningless as employers are not bound to offer a regular casual more work or a permanent job if they do not think it would be reasonable to do so. The same employer can veto a worker's right to have the Fair Work Commission—the umpire—consider if the decision was fair. It is totally unfair, and this bill is not good for Australian workers.

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