Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. Would the minister advise the House how the government’s workplace relations reforms are delivering higher wages and more family friendly work practices for Australian employees?

Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Stirling for his question. In answering, I note that the unemployment rate in his electorate of Stirling has fallen from 9.4 per cent when Labor was in government to just 5.4 per cent today. What that means for hundreds, if not thousands, of families in Stirling, in Perth, Western Australia, is that they have a job and are able to provide for their families in a way that was not possible under the high unemployment rates of the Labor Party.

Today’s national account confirms once again that the Howard government reforms are delivering higher wages for Australian employees. These figures show that real wages in Australia under this government have grown by 17.9 per cent. That compares with the 13 years of the previous Labor government in which the real wages for ordinary Australian workers went backwards. Since Work Choices was introduced we have seen over 180,000 new Australian workplace agreements lodged and we have also seen many union and non-union collective agreements. I can report to the House and to the member for Stirling that the majority of these agreements contain family-friendly provisions that suit both employer and employee. Let me give you a few examples of a couple of well-known employers in Australia. David Jones, for example, have introduced flexible rosters, the opportunity for employees to bank additional hours for paid leave and new paid business leave. Country Road, another major employer in Australia which employs many young people, have introduced family-friendly provisions—child-care leave, extended maternity leave and the option of leave on half pay.

Small employers are also introducing family-friendly provisions. For example, the Salsa Bar and Grill in Port Douglas is providing their restaurant manager with shifts that accommodate her child-care arrangements. Increasingly, under agreement-making in Australia we see agreements containing family-friendly provisions that suit both the employer and the employee. This type of flexibility is what the Labor Party wants to roll back. They want to take us back to the old award system. For example, the New South Wales Paint and Varnish Makers Award is the type of thing which the Leader of the Opposition, under instruction from the union bosses, wants to take us back to. It does not even contain a part-time hours clause, yet we get this rhetoric from the Leader of the Opposition about being family friendly.

The reality is that the Leader of the Opposition is all rhetoric. This is a triumph of style over substance. And why will they not go to the substance? Because their substance is a one-size-fits-all that will not benefit Australian workers or Australian businesses. The reality is that Australian workers and Australian employers are voting with their feet. They are taking up agreements put in place under the legislation of this government, agreements which are family friendly.