Yvette D'Ath (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Acting Prime Minister. Will the Acting Prime Minister update the House on the importance of a fair workplace relations system, especially for those in low-paid employment?

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

I thank the member for Petrie for her question and for her contribution in the development of the legislation that is before the House today. Twelve months ago the Australian people spoke out about what type of workplace relations system they wanted. They spoke clearly in favour of the Australian value of fairness and against the divisive, unfair and extreme workplace relations system championed by the Liberal Party—by those opposite, including the Leader of the Opposition, who voted in favour of it more than a dozen times.

Just a short time ago, the Rudd government introduced its Fair Work Bill into the parliament to give legislative embodiment to the value of fairness in workplace relations in this country. The bill brings into this parliament in the form of legislation the policy we took to the Australian people at the last election. That policy is Labor’s Forward with Fairness, and it has been endorsed by the Australian people and brought into the parliament today in the form of the Fair Work Bill.

The level of consultation on the bill brought into this parliament today is unprecedented. I particularly take this opportunity to thank those stakeholders who have played a crucial role in the government’s consultative process. I particularly mention the members of the National Workplace Relations Consultative Council’s committee on industrial legislation, which includes members of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Australian Industry Group, the Australian Mines and Metals Association, the National Farmers Federation and the Master Builders. I also mention the work of the Business Advisory Group and the Small Business Working Group, and I thank John Denton of Corrs Chambers Westgarth for his work in chairing the Business Advisory Group. I also thank those members of Labor’s caucus who played such an important role in the development of this bill and the Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors and the Service Economy for his consultation with the small business constituency.

At the heart of Forward with Fairness is an enterprise bargaining system and a safety net that working people can rely on that cannot be stripped away. This bill contains a special development in the workplace relations law of this country—that is, a special set of provisions for the low paid. There are around 100,000 adults who are currently earning the federal minimum wage, which is about $543 a week. It is not a lot of money; I think we would all agree with that. Low-paid workers who receive this kind of money work in child care, community work, security and cleaning. We want to facilitate their entry into the world of enterprise bargaining. We want to make sure that there is a special bargaining stream for the low paid. Their bargaining will be able to happen at a multi-employer level, and Fair Work Australia will play a hands-on role in helping the bargaining. In those limited circumstances where despite the best efforts of Fair Work Australia the parties cannot reach agreement, Fair Work Australia will be able to step in and make a workplace determination. This is for special cases and only for low-paid workers, and it occurs where the parties have never had an enterprise agreement and the employers are substantially on the safety net. It is a new step forward in fairness in workplace relations.

I have noticed that some have sought to mischaracterise this in the public domain. I say to those involved in that mischaracterisation: are they seriously going to argue to the Australian people that low-paid workers substantially reliant on the safety net do not deserve a helping hand? The Fair Work Bill is good for employees, employers, families and the economy. It is delivering what Labor promised at the last election and what the Australian people voted for right around this nation.