Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker Burke, I am not looking for brownie points but I do take this opportunity to congratulate you on your elevation to such high office. Today I would like to bring to the attention of the House a workers’ dispute at Qantas Valet Parking, which is located in my electorate of Calwell. It is a dispute that goes to the very heart of the many debates we have had in this place on industrial relations and the unfairness of the previous government’s extreme Work Choices laws. Qantas Valet Parking currently employs around 70 people as customer service staff, drivers and car washers. Many have worked there for a number of years and have shown both loyalty and dedication in their work. Many are also local residents who live in my electorate of Calwell and some of them have written to me over the last week outlining their opposition to a new Australian workplace agreement that they have been asked to sign at work.

As of 1 March this year the contract for Qantas Valet Parking will be taken over by Equity Valet Parking, after the previous contractor, Hertz Australia, decided not to re-tender for the job. According to the letters I have received from local residents, Equity Valet Parking last week offered Qantas Valet Parking employees new Australian workplace agreements that strip away many of the basic award conditions contained in their current collective agreement with Hertz Australia. Among other things, the AWA sought to cut shift penalties, allowances, breaks, classifications and overtime provisions. Faced with mounting opposition from valet parking staff, the company withdrew the AWA some two days after having offered it. I have since been informed that a second AWA has been issued to Qantas Valet Parking employees this week—though the advice I have received from the workers is that this second AWA offers few if any improvements on the first. As it stands, employees at Qantas Valet Parking are now faced with an impossible decision as the deadline to sign the AWA looms even closer.

If we are to ensure that Australia has a fair and balanced industrial relations system then our obligation in this place is to uphold the basic rights and protections for the millions of workers across Australia, including the men and women who work at Qantas Valet Parking. That is a commitment I made to the electorate of Calwell in the lead-up to the last election to which the Rudd Labor government remains committed today. The previous government’s unfair Work Choices laws have proved to be one of the greatest attacks on the basic rights and protections of Australian workers, and AWAs are synonymous with these laws. Work Choices was essentially about ripping away the basic rights and protections that Australian workers fought so hard to secure. This dispute at Qantas Valet Parking again highlights the destructive legacy of these laws. Whilst AWAs are still permissible under current Work Choices laws, this dispute at Qantas Valet Parking comes at a time when, only last week, the Rudd Labor government introduced legislation in this place to put an end to new AWAs.

In keeping with federal Labor’s pre-election promise to introduce a fairer, simpler and more balanced workplace relations system, the Workplace Relations Amendment (Transition to Forward with Fairness) Bill 2008 provides that, from its commencement date, no-one will be able to make a new Australian workplace agreement. Given the government’s intention to abolish AWAs and the Australian people’s overwhelming rejection of Work Choices at the last election, I believe the staff at Qantas Valet Parking have a strong moral argument to make in their opposition to this AWA. I want to make clear my strong and continuing support for them during what is obviously a very difficult time for them and their families.

Moving from what is a difficult issue for some constituents in my own electorate, I want to take some time to briefly recognise the outstanding academic achievements of 16 local students from secondary schools in my electorate who topped year 12 VCE classes last year. Last week I had the privilege of hosting the students in my office. Can I say how impressed I was. I would like to name each and every one of them. I think they deserve that sort of honour. I begin by congratulating Steven Angus, Kerry Hoang, Faye Pableo, Damian Sipetic, Loay Yousif, Antonio Prae, Grace Foo, Abdurrahman Turker, Iman Zayegh, Paul Samuel Calara, Mathew Komiti, Jessica Rosla, Candace Kovacevic, Grace Lambert, Robert Graf and Morgan Ryan. I wish them every success in their future endeavours and again congratulate them for their outstanding VCE results. They are young people who are well placed to be future leaders in our community.