Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill represents part of the legislative implementation of our commitment to get wages moving again. After a decade of wage stagnation, it is high time that Australian workers see the pay rise that they so sorely need and so sorely deserve. This decade of stagnation was not caused by simple economic mismanagement but rather by something far more sinister. The nine years of wage suppression under the previous government was a deliberate policy decision. In fact, it was only earlier this year that the former Prime Minister, the former Treasurer, the former minister for health, the former Minister for Finance, the member for Cook, et cetera, et cetera said that raising the minimum wage by just a dollar an hour—a single dollar an hour—would be 'reckless and dangerous'.

The real danger to our economy is the gap between wages and profits. The real danger lies in failing to pass on a dividend from productivity gains to workers in Australia. Throughout the last decade, those opposite regularly and wrongly cited a false economic imperative for wage suppression. In fact, our economy has been damaged by their lack of regard for Australian workers. Organised labour is the best and most efficient way of regulating labour prices in our economy. A well regulated labour price is a necessary prerequisite for economic health and sustainability. By weakening workers at the bargaining table, the reckless former Liberal government fundamentally compromised the health of our economy. And let's be clear: the Liberals fundamentally believe in propping up profits at a direct cost to Australian workers and their wages.

A government member: And their families.

And their families; indeed. Driven by their desire to ensure everyday Australian workers had less money in their pockets and less money to pay their household bills, the strategy of the previous government was to weaken the rights of these workers in the enterprise bargaining process. It is therefore no surprise that we are seeing fewer agreements being struck between workers and employers and fewer again being renegotiated on their time lines prior to expiration.

As I said, whilst the dismantling of our enterprise bargaining process may assist the big business mates of those opposite, it has undeniably damaged our nation's economy. Wage share of national income is at an all-time low. Worker have seen no real wage growth over the last decade, with wages at effectively the same level as in 2013. It is no coincidence that that was when Labor last left government and the decade of wilful Liberal wage suppression began.

The consequences of this deliberate wage suppression have been devastating for Australian workers and their families. In my electorate of Hawke there are thousands of workers in insecure work, unsure of how much money they will have each week to support their families, pay their bills and meet the terms of their mortgages. There are tens of thousands of hardworking families in Melton, Bacchus Marsh and Sunbury who have bought houses and established themselves in our wonderful community, many coming from overseas in search of a better life. This bill is about providing those families and those workers with better pay and better conditions, reflective of the immense contribution they make to our communities, our society and our economy.

In Hawke, there are 15,000 workers across health care, social assistance, education and training. Eighty per cent of these workers, in places like Bacchus Marsh, Diggers Rest and Ballan, are women. Our communities and our country love to celebrate the contribution these workers make. This is the bill that will ensure that those workers are given the wage increases that match that contribution that we celebrate. This legislation will tip the scales and ensure that workers are given a fair and significant platform from which to exercise their rights at the enterprise bargaining table.

The bill will ban pay secrecy clauses, long used to conceal discrepancies in pay, particularly those between men and women. The bill will establish two new Fair Work Commission expert panels, one on pay equity and one on the care and community sector. It is well known and broadly agreed that care work is undervalued, underpaid and all too insecure. So many of these care workers live in Hawke—in Hillside, in Sunbury and in Melton. This bill is about fighting to get them the pay rises that they deserve.

Whilst we recently welcomed a 15 per cent increase in the minimum wage of aged-care workers, this was the result of a long process, including the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. I note that some members have cited this pay rise as a demonstration that this legislation isn't needed. Of them I ask: are we really going to have a royal commission for every industry that needs a pay rise; are we really going to ask that Australian industries become so dysfunctional that they warrant a royal commission before a pay rise is provided?

We cannot rely on one-off processes to change the trajectory of wages in our economy. We must provide significant reform to empower workers at the bargaining table.

We've heard from some in this place that we shouldn't move quickly to enact this important legislation, that there is no urgency to deliver this reform. How long do Australian workers have to wait? They've already waited 10 long years under the previous Liberal government. We on this side of the House will not stand by while the Liberals try to continue to suppress wages from the opposition benches.

In September the government hosted the Jobs and Skills Summit here in Canberra, along with local summits around the country, including the outer western Melbourne summit that I hosted with my colleague, the member for Lalor. This summit brought together unions, employers and governments to discuss our shared economic challenges and potential solutions. The legislation being debated here today is a direct outcome of that extensive consultation process. Any suggestion that the consultation process has been insufficient is nothing more than an insincere attempt to simply delay this important reform. In fact, the consultation process has already led to several government amendments to the bill, including allowing businesses and workers who already successfully negotiate fair, single enterprise agreements to continue to do so, and not extending multi-employer bargaining to industries in which it is neither appropriate nor necessary.

This bill is a about restoring the balance between the power of workers and the power of employers at the bargaining table. It does not set the conditions for economic disruption, for industrial action. But in its rebalancing it demands that employers take a more constructive and responsible approach to bargaining. With profit growth outstripping wages growth so substantially, this bill lays the pathway to a fairer distribution of income from business activities and is ultimately a vehicle for delivery of the real wages growth that our society and our economy so desperately needs.

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