House debates

Monday, 22 February 2021

Bills

Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia's Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill 2020; Second Reading

12:00 pm

Photo of Josh BurnsJosh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I understand. I appreciate that. Because of those reasons, we are now coming back to the fair work amendment bill. I remember at the start of the pandemic we had a conciliatory federal government. We had a federal government that set up national processes, like the national cabinet, to work with the state and territory governments. That was, of course, before the federal government started issuing snarky press statements about the restrictions enacted and decisions made by the Victorian government during the pandemic—but I digress. We had a federal government that was collaborative with other governments and even collaborative with the union movement. We were promised by this Attorney-General that we were going to see a modern-day, accords-style collaboration with businesses and unions, bringing them all together because the times demanded it, because COVID demanded that business, government and the unions work together.

What did this Attorney-General do? He brought everyone into the same room. He brought business into the same room. He sent some text messages to the ACTU. But of course he ignored all of the suggestions that the ACTU put on the table. This Attorney-General has nothing on the accords of the eighties. This Attorney-General is not bringing businesses and unions together and finding common ground. This Attorney-General is doing everything based on appearances and then ignoring the very concerns and requests of working Australians.

What do we see as a result? We see this bill. We see this fair work amendment bill that is going to weaken bargaining agreements, cut wages and force workers to be in a weaker negotiating position when bargaining their enterprise agreements. The other thing it's going to do is override already strong wage theft laws that exist in specific jurisdictions, including Victoria and Queensland. This bill is going to override the wage theft laws that currently exist in those states after those state governments introduced and passed hard-fought-for legislation to help make sure that businesses couldn't rob workers of the entitlements they are due. This bill is going to override those pieces of legislation and introduce a weakened framework.

We on this side of the House say no. We're not about making it harder for workers to negotiate, to be protected in the workplace and to be protected at the bargaining table. We on this side of the House believe that those workers who have been in casual and insecure work throughout this pandemic, forced to go back to work even in risky circumstances, have been the heroes of this pandemic. It doesn't matter whether they're stacking supermarket shelves, driving food or working in one of our care and services industries; these people are Australian heroes. They are doing good and noble work. We want an industrial framework to keep up with the evolution of the Australian economy. We want to make sure Australian workers are protected by strong industrial relations frameworks in their workplaces that are going to make sure they have a seat at the table, good bargaining power and a right to negotiate to protect themselves against the wage theft we've seen from some big corporations and big public figures.

We on this side of the House understand that your job and your job security are crucial, but we've seen stagnating wages, we've seen a rise in casualisation, we've seen a rise in insecure work, and under this government's watch we've seen exactly what has been replicated by these accords: a lot of marketing, a lot of spin, a lot of 'bringing people to the table' and then a lot of ignoring the requests of working Australians, working families in our economy. We say on this side of the House: don't just remove the better off overall test; remove the bill. Remove the bill and actually, in good faith, return to the negotiating table with unions, with business. Take inspiration from the accords of Bob Hawke. Take inspiration from bringing together the shared ambitions of Australian workers and Australian businesses to live in a prosperous and successful Australian economy, and don't present the antiworker, anti-secure-job legislation that is currently before the House.

Comments

No comments