Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for Social Inclusion. Is the minister aware that members of the shop employees union in South Australia are complaining that, in a new collective agreement between the shop employees union and Coles Myer, terms and conditions such as penalty rates and rostered days off were negotiated away by the union secretary against the express wishes of union members? Will the minister undertake to ensure that the Workplace Ombudsman investigates these complaints, given that the union secretary who negotiated the agreement was Don Farrell, the Labor senator elect for South Australia?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition appears to be referring to a collective agreement made under Work Choices. And, yes, I agree that Work Choices is a dreadful set of laws that have hurt the Australian community. You are absolutely right. The laws that you brought to the Australian community—

Brendan Nelson (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order in terms of relevance. This is against the wishes of the union members in a union collective agreement.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am endeavouring to explain to the Leader of the Opposition the way in which the Work Choices laws that he supports operate. Let me explain to him the way those laws operate. An employer can make a greenfields collective agreement and just impose it on people unilaterally. That can happen under the laws that he supports. An employer can present an employee with a take-it-or-leave-it AWA which strips away basic award conditions for no compensation or no proper compensation. They are the laws that he supports. People can make collective agreements under Work Choices and, because the benchmark for those collective agreements is the so-called flawed fairness test, which the member for North Sydney spent $121 million of taxpayers’ money advertising—

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms Julie Bishop interjecting

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They do not like to hear about Work Choices, do they?

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order on relevance. The question was whether she is going to refer Don Farrell, the Labor senator elect for South Australia, to the Workplace Ombudsman for negotiating an agreement against the wishes—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The honourable member will resume her seat.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will continue explaining the nature of flawed agreement making under Work Choices. For a collective agreement under Work Choices, the benchmark is the so-called ‘protected’ award conditions, which means that things can be lost without any proper compensation. I say to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition that, if she is aware of anyone who has a complaint about a collective agreement-making process, they should refer that matter to the Workplace Ombudsman. But I also say to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition that what they will find when they go to the Workplace Ombudsman is that the Workplace Ombudsman will say to them, ‘All I can do is apply the laws’—and the laws allow working families to be ripped off. The Leader of the Opposition, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, the member for North Sydney, the member for Warringah et cetera—the list goes on and on—sat around a cabinet table and imposed these laws on the Australian community knowing that they could rip people off.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order on relevance. I asked a specific question. I asked whether the minister would refer a complaint by union members against the union secretary Don Farrell—the Labor senator elect for South Australia—to the Workplace Ombudsman. Will she refer that complaint?

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Prime Minister is responding to the question in totality.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let me just say again that the Work Choices laws that were supported by the Liberal Party—the party of Work Choices—allowed people to be ripped off. In respect of the matters that the Deputy Leader of the Opposition has raised in her question, can I just say that the opposition have not got one fact right today. I am not accepting that the so-called facts in her question are anywhere near accurate, because everything they have said today has been wrong. But I would say to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and to people in the Australian community generally that, if they do have a complaint about a collective agreement-making process, they should raise that matter with the Workplace Ombudsman. If the Workplace Ombudsman says to them, ‘I’m really sorry, but you can be ripped off because of Work Choices,’ they should ring the Leader of the Opposition or the Deputy Leader of the Opposition about it.