Chris Hayes (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Earlier today we witnessed yet another example of the desperate measures that this government will take to silence debate on its extreme industrial relations laws. We saw government members march into this place to silence the Leader of the Opposition as he tried to hold the Prime Minister to account over his 2005 commitment:

It would be absurd and unfair and unreasonable, if somebody has to work on a public holiday, that that person isn’t compensated by being paid whatever it is—the double time or the time and a half ...

The Prime Minister and the members opposite do not want to hear about the real impact of their extreme industrial relations laws. They certainly do not want to hear that people do not like them and do not want these laws imposed upon them—in fact, they do not want a situation where the bargaining power in the workplace is removed from them and increased for their employer.

The Prime Minister wants to cut and run from the commitment he gave to Australians because he never really believed it. He does not believe that people should receive penalty rates for working on public holidays. In fact, this government would prefer it if penalty rates were not paid at all. The member for Macarthur said only last week that he does not think there is anything wrong with no overtime pay, no meal breaks, no penalty rates and no leave loading. He was also reported as saying that people should consider themselves lucky to have a job.

This typifies the attitude of this government when it comes to industrial relations. It certainly typifies this government’s attitude to working Australians. Last weekend, the Leader of the Opposition gave a commitment to move to protect penalty rates for public holidays. This morning that is exactly what he did—he moved to do just that, but he was stopped because the government is happy to have people working on public holidays for no extra pay. This morning Labor members voted to support the right of working Australians to receive adequate compensation for giving up time with their families to work on public holidays. Government members opposite are on the record now as refusing to support that. They refuse to support the protection of penalty rates on public holidays because they believe that those rates are worth trading off for as little as 2c an hour. This government talks tough on security until it comes to protecting job security. This government has introduced laws to legalise the actions of bad employers and to force good employers to join them in a race to the bottom.

Everyone who knows anything about economics or about operating a business knows that increasing productivity and creating jobs is not achieved by cutting wages. This government has yet to provide one shred of evidence that supports its argument that productivity will be improved by the cutting of wages. It defies logic that people are going to work harder if we pay them less money.

What is worse is that this government continues to hang its entire defence of AWAs around the absurd statistic that employees on AWAs earn, on average, 13 per cent more than those on certified agreements. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has blown that misleading statistic out of the water. The ABS data shows that the hourly rate of pay for non-managerial employees on individual contracts is lower than that of workers on collective agreements, despite what the Prime Minister tried to tell us in question time today.

The broad based introduction of individual contracts is used to achieve one thing and one thing only—wage reductions—and that is exactly what is occurring. We have already heard that every single AWA checked since the new laws came into effect has at least one protected award condition removed. Two out of three scrap leave loadings and penalties. In more than half of them, shift loadings were abolished. In one out of six of them, every single award entitlement has been removed. This government’s objection to penalty rates was writ large this morning when it would not support the restoration of adequate compensation for Australians who are working on public holidays.

Working Australians in every part of the labour force deserve fairness in the workplace and this government has no interest in delivering it. Members opposite are scared about the public backlash against these extreme industrial relations laws and they have every reason to be.