House debates Questions without Notice
Workplace Relations
Stephen Smith Perth, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry, Infrastructure and Industrial Relations
2:17 pm
My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, isn’t it the case that under the government’s industrial relations legislation the Fair Pay Commission is not required to consider fairness when setting the minimum wage?
John Howard Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
I think the Fair Pay Commission is made up of very fair-minded Australians. Like all other bodies such as this, it will be judged on what it does.
Stuart Henry Hasluck, Liberal Party
My question is addressed to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. Would the minister update the House on how Australian workplaces are using the choice and flexibility delivered by the government’s workplace reforms? Is the minister aware of any threats to economic benefits delivered by these important reforms?
Kevin Andrews Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service
I thank the member for Hasluck for his question. I note that every Australian workplace is different and, therefore, Work Choices is delivering the flexibility for individual businesses and employees to choose the type of agreement which best suits their workplace. This is borne out by the data from the Office of the Employment Advocate about the take-up of agreements over the past six months. Of the new agreements since Work Choices came into operation on 27 March this year, 70 per cent of workers are covered by collective agreements and 30 per cent of workers are covered by individual agreements.
Unfortunately, the Labor Party has been unwilling to acknowledge the real benefits for Australians covered by Work Choices. For months we have had the Leader of the Opposition and the Labor Party running around this country maintaining that collective agreements would not exist under Work Choices, despite the real evidence otherwise. What we see after six months is 70 per cent of workers covered by collective agreements and 30 per cent covered by individual agreements.
Even last night the member for Perth was maintaining this denial. He said, ‘Collective agreements signed since the introduction of the government’s industrial relations legislation are despite the laws, not because of them.’ That reminds me: we used to have one rooster who used to crow that real money was not real. We now have the other rooster claiming that real agreements are not real. We had the spectacle over the weekend, when the Labor Party in South Australia refused to allow non-union members of the media to cover—
Bernie Ripoll Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industry, Infrastructure and Industrial Relations
Mr Ripoll interjecting
Kevin Andrews Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service
their conference in Adelaide, of the Leader of the Opposition saying that he could not do anything about it. He was too weak to stand up to the union bosses in that instance. Today he came out and said, ‘Oh, we’ll get that changed.’ On the weekend he was too weak to stand up and say, ‘I’m going to have a media conference at the site of the conference.’ He had to go out to the car park. Today he says, ‘We’ll change this policy.’ I note that instead of having the guts to say, ‘I will change the policy,’ he says, ‘I’ll get the national executive of the ALP to do it.’ That is not leadership. It was interesting that the Leader of the Opposition had to run out to a car park to hold this media conference on the weekend. Just before question time I went to the website of the Leader of the Opposition.
Anthony Albanese Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House
Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order under standing order 104.
David Hawker Speaker
I have been listening carefully to the minister. I believe he is answering the question.
Kevin Andrews Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service
There are all sorts of media releases and speeches by the Leader of the Opposition on his website. But do you know what is missing from his website? What is missing is the doorstop that he performed in a car park in Adelaide. It is missing from the website of the Leader of the Opposition. What we have here is the Leader of the Opposition saying to the Australian people, ‘I want to be heard on these issues,’ but then hiding away the transcript of a doorstop on the issue involved. As I said, there are two things that are clear at this stage of the week. The first is—
David Hawker Speaker
Order! Before calling the member for Grayndler, I would remind members on my left that when a member is speaking he will be heard.
Anthony Albanese Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House
Mr Speaker, on a point of order under standing order 75—
David Hawker Speaker
The member for Grayndler would be well aware that I have ruled on that same point of order in the past and made it very clear that standing order 75 does not apply to answers in question time.
Kevin Andrews Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service
There are two things clear about this: first of all, once again, we have a demonstration of the essential weakness of the Leader of the Opposition, who is not fit to govern this country, and the second and final thing is that we now have a definitive Labor answer to that old riddle: why did the chicken cross the road? To do his doorstop in the car park.
Stephen Smith Perth, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry, Infrastructure and Industrial Relations
2:24 pm
My question is also to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. Isn’t it the case that, under the government’s industrial relations legislation, if a majority of employees want a collective agreement and the employer does not, there is no circuit breaker other than the unreviewable unilateral decision of the employer? What choice do employees have when the boss simply says no?
Jenny Macklin Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition
No choice.
David Hawker Speaker
Order! The minister has been asked a question and he will now be heard.
Kevin Andrews Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service
The data I referred to earlier shows that there is a clear choice for employers and employees. Seventy per cent of agreements which have been entered into—
Stephen Smith Perth, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry, Infrastructure and Industrial Relations
Mr Stephen Smith interjecting
David Hawker Speaker
Order! The member for Perth has asked his question.
Kevin Andrews Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service
under Work Choices since 27 March are collective agreements and 30 per cent are individual agreements.
Stephen Smith Perth, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry, Infrastructure and Industrial Relations
Mr Stephen Smith interjecting
Kevin Andrews Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service
What does the labour movement and the ALP propose to do? What they propose is that—and remember they are talking about effective compulsory unionism now—unions can come along to a workplace under their so-called good faith bargaining, demand that the books, the accounts and the financial affairs of any business in Australia be totally opened up and, if there is a dispute about that, the union can go to the Industrial Relations Commission in this country and say that this is an intractable dispute and therefore take out of the agreement making between the employer and employees their responsibility to do that and have the one-size-fits-all pattern bargain approach that we had in the past. The reality is that this will take Australia back to the 1970s and 1980s. This would be a very serious mark against the Australian economy. It would be economic vandalism.