Sharon Grierson (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Rather than the mantra of misery just delivered by the other side I rise to actually highlight what can be achieved by individual members of parliament and by a government that is absolutely committed to a prosperous and fair economy. I have risen on other occasions in this parliament to speak in support of legislation to make superannuation fairer, to defend the rights of our workers and to make our economy a more prosperous one.

Today, I rise to speak of the human consequences of a failure to comply with legislatively mandated superannuation requirements and the toll that this can have on families, and did have on the family of Robert Watson. Four years ago, I put on the record my sympathy for Robert's widow, Kathy, and his eight children and 10 grandchildren. I reiterate those condolences now. In March 2007, a partition wall at a Central Coast construction site collapsed, killing Mr Watson. At the time, Mr Watson's employer was behind on his superannuation payments, denying his family a death benefit of up to $100,000. This left Mr Watson's family in financial distress at a time when they should have been able to grieve for the loss of a husband and father without additional worries about financial matters. Thankfully for Robert Watson's family, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union stepped in and assisted with funeral and other expenses and offered counselling support for the family. I note that Mr Watson was not a member of that union, but that is the sort of action that that union takes to support individuals. I acknowledge particularly the work of former secretary Andrew Ferguson on this particular matter.

At the time, the CFMEU also negotiated an ex gratia payment of $57,000 for the family from the employer. Although it fell short of the death benefit that his family should have been paid, I do acknowledge the willingness of the employer to reach that agreement with Robert's family and the union and to go some way to righting their initial wrong. However, it should never have come to this. No worker should have to worry about whether his superannuation guarantee is being paid by his employer. The $174,000 fine imposed on the head contractor and subcontractor earlier this year by the Industrial Court of New South Wales, after a WorkCover investigation, which of course has taken quite a long time, cannot undo the financial and emotional damage that was done.

In 2007, I raised on three occasions in parliament, including twice as the chair of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit, Mr Watson's tragic case. To its credit, the Australian Taxation Office took heed of those warnings, sought extra resources and commenced a more rigourous approach towards the investigations into the nonpayment of superannuation entitlements. This investigation has since yielded some very positive results. The ATO has discovered that unpaid superannuation over the past five years has totalled $1.3 billion, with the most affected employees being in low-income, casual or part-time employment, especially in the trucking industry, which is interesting, and the auto repair and electrical services industries. This year, the ATO has already collected a total of $294 million in unpaid superannuation and penalties and it expects to investigate a further 17,000 complaints about the nonpayment of superannuation entitlements next year.

Many small businesses not only are not complying but also are unaware of their superannuation obligations, as well as other responsibilities they owe to their employees, and with approximately 50 per cent of small businesses actually failing within the first five years of their operation, workers can be left in a precarious position and significantly out of pocket. It is often workers and contractors who lose out when a company goes into liquidation and there is little left over to pay outstanding entitlements. That is why it is encouraging to see that the ATO is not simply adopting a rigourous and punitive stance but is working to ensure that employers are aware of their superannuation and taxation responsibilities through greater online information sharing and preventative initiatives. The long-term implications of employers not paying superannuation contributions for families can be destabilising. If an employer is not paying the required payments, a worker may reach retirement age and have significantly less money saved than they would have; thus necessitating that they stay in the workforce or organise alternative income. Many people, just like in the case of Robert and Kathy Watson, would not know that their employer was not paying superannuation contributions until it is too late. I would like to publicly acknowledge and thank Joanne McCarthy, a journalist of the Newcastle Heraldfor her ongoing attention to this matter over the past four years.

But today, through the Securing Super reforms introduced by this government, we hope to prevent situations such as this arising again by implementing some of the recommendations of the Cooper review of superannuation. This will require that employees receive information on their payslips about the actual amount of superannuation being paid into their account and quarterly notifications from their superannuation fund if regular payments cease. It is that sort of assurance that every employee needs. By providing employees with more timely information the risk of superannuation default et cetera is substantially reduced. The Securing Super reforms also increase the enforcement powers of the ATO and the Fair Work Ombudsman, who will be given stronger powers to ensure that businesses pay their employees superannuation entitlements by extending the director's penalty regime to cover unpaid super entitlements and improve the capacity of the ATO to police super payments. These reforms were part of the 2011-12 budget and will go a long way to protecting workers' rights to superannuation.

There is one further matter that I would like to bring to the attention of the house: Last week I updated the house on the disturbing release of hexavalent chromium over the suburb of Stockton in my electorate and the unacceptable delay by both the company responsible, Orica, a multinational firm, and the New South Wales government to notify affected residents. It is with deep regret and some anger that I advise the house of further developments. Last Friday, Orica released a quantity of highly poisonous arsenic above allowable levels into the Hunter River—and this is right in the city of Newcastle. This isn't somewhere up the river or far away; this is a kilometre from where I live, I suppose. According to details provided by Orica, 1.2 megalitres of industrial waste released into the river contained 0.067 milligrams per litre of arsenic, well above the allowable limit of 0.05 milligrams per litre. This, however, was not the end of the bad news nor was it an isolated incident it seems. According to reports in the media today, this latest incident represented the 131st time since 2000 that Orica has breached its pollution license. It is no surprise therefore that residents in Stockton and in other areas surrounding the plant, including Mayfield, Carrington, Fern Bay, Maryville, have very little confidence in the safeguards to prevent or manage such industrial accidents on their doorsteps.

Since I spoke to the House on the issue last week, I note that Premier O'Farrell, in the face of sustained political pressure, announced an inquiry into the leak of hexavalent chromium. It is abundantly clear however that the terms of reference of this inquiry do not go far enough. If the residents of Stockton are to have any confidence, the inquiry must examine why New South Wales environment Minister Parker waited almost 2½ days to notify the residents of Stockton and why she was able to advise the state member for Newcastle, Tim Owen, her colleague, of the leak almost 24 hours before either Parker or Owen advised Newcastle constituents. As the Sydney Morning Herald noted today, the inquiry will not reassure anxious voters unless it also asks hard questions of the environment minister and senior officials about the seemingly outrageous delay in informing potentially-affected residents of the chromium leak. The large Catholic school in my electorate chose to do their fun run the next morning, for the whole school, taking them to Stockton to do that. Perhaps they would not have done that if they had been informed.

The inquiry, though, if it is to have any relevance to the residents who live side by side with these industries every single day, must examine the broader impact of industrial activities on Kooragang Island and the port of Newcastle on surrounding residents. I have written to New South Wales Premier Barry O'Farrell to reiterate the urgent need for publicly accessible 24/7 air and water quality monitoring as well as 24/7 alert and notification systems to be put in place in Newcastle. I have also questioned the adequacy of the provisions and enforcement practices under the New South Wales environment protection act and requested they be urgently reviewed.

The New South Wales government's handling of this incident to date has been nothing but deplorable. This inquiry, however, does present an opportunity to learn from these appalling mistakes and secure a better long-term balance between Newcastle's industry and the right of nearby residents to live free from the fear of harmful pollution and to know that their health and welfare are being taken very seriously.

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much Madam Deputy Speaker. I would like to raise three issues in relation to grievances within my electorate. Firstly and most significantly in terms of the sad news today of the loss of 200 jobs from the Western Port steel works run by BlueScope at Hastings in my electorate. Secondly in relation to a better deal for autism families and thirdly a matter on behalf of petitioners within my electorate.

I turn firstly to the issue of BlueScope Steel and the loss of 200 direct employee jobs and approximately 60 contractors jobs from the Long Island steel plant, sometimes known as the Western Port steel plant at Hastings in my electorate of Flinders. This is a desperately sad outcome for workers, for their families and for the town and community of Hastings and the surrounding areas. Hastings is a town of approximately 8,500 people. To lose 260 jobs from within Hastings and the broader area is a big blow to the working population. I think every member of this house takes their job seriously and would feel the weight of that loss. It is significant and it is real.

On the macroeconomic matters let me say that we have endeavoured to be utterly responsible with accepting that this has been primarily caused by the combination of the high Australian dollar, the high cost of inputs in terms of raw materials for steel, the low price being given in terms of sale and demand and the extremely poor export markets for a variety of reasons not the least of which is the massive production of North Asian steel across China, Japan and Korea. This is a reality and we are not claiming that this set of job losses was caused by the carbon tax because it predates them, but having spoken with company executives let me be absolutely clear that they said it was their fiduciary duty to consider the fact that the formal package which they face at the moment is a four-year package but that their net present value estimates for the future in calculating how they look at long term investments are made over 40 years. They cannot bank on a change of government; they are not in a position to assume a change of government so therefore they have to assume a carbon tax in precisely the form that the government has set out with a four-year assistance package but a 40-year tax, given that it is planned out to 2050. Those are real considerations but we have been responsible in saying that this outcome today is in its immediate form the consequence of deep and difficult global conditions for Australian manufacturing.

Against that background the worst thing that could possibly happen, given the fragility of Australian manufacturing as seen by OneSteel last week and as seen by Blue Scope this week, the worst thing that could happen is to add an additional carbon tax on top of it. For those who rightly care about the environment, this will do nothing for the environment because it will simply shift the weight of production to less regulated environments in China, India and Indonesia whether it is steel or injection moulding for plastic or cement or other such products. That is the reality. We will simply shift the burden of production and the emissions generation to other environments with the carbon tax in this form at this time. It is the single worst thing we could do.

In terms of the individual package for the workers, I appreciate the outline of that which has been done by the Prime Minister. We called for action immediately and I understand of course that the Prime Minister's office may well have had a heads up. I raised four matters in dealing with the Prime Minister's office and associated departments this afternoon. Firstly, having spoken with workers who have been retrenched prior to today, the package should extend to workers who were released in the last month because today was the culmination of a process not the commencement of a process. Secondly, consideration has to be given to contractors and if there is a relevant test such as 50 per cent of their income coming from the one supplier being BlueScope, then those contractors for the purposes of the package should be allowed to participate. Thirdly, it is absolutely unacceptable that there is not a comparable package to that given to the Illawarra to assist the Mornington Peninsula with the generation of new jobs. There is a $30 million package, including a $20 million Commonwealth fund. We would expect at least a quarter of that in the case of Hastings and an agreement with the Victorian government. Fourthly, given that the Prime Minister has said that the carbon tax was not responsible, none of this package should therefore be linked to the passage of the carbon tax. To hold support for workers hostage to the carbon tax would be a disgrace. I trust this will not happen, but if it does we will hold this government to account and we will hound, harry and work until such time as the linkage is severed. If the Prime Minister says this loss of jobs is not related to the carbon tax, then compensation cannot, and must not, be tied to passage of the carbon tax, which itself will bring a second wave of effects as surely as night follows day.

I turn to a second topic and that is the status of parents within my electorate and elsewhere in Australia who have struggled with the great challenge of autism. I recently completed a 500 kilometre walk for autism, and the funds raised have been shared between the Abacus Learning Centre and Autism Victoria. I did it from the complete surprise at the number of parents who have outlined the condition of autism and the difficulty in acquiring services to me over the last couple of years. This is particularly so in the case of early intervention as well as support for adults with autism once they leave school. This is a great challenge. Autism is, of course, a tremendous spectrum. At one end are those who are highly functional but who suffer from sensory overload, which may manifest itself in the form of extreme shyness or sensitivity to light, noise and smell or perhaps aversion to water with all the social consequences that flow from that. As part of that process we raised about $31,000 for Autism Victoria and the Abacus Learning Centre in Hastings. Abacus was set up by parents such as Michael and Lauren Moore and many others to help young children try to get the building blocks necessary to be able to manage their autism and to learn as well as they can. Many of these children have gone on to sensational outcomes. The dux of Westernport Secondary College two years ago was a boy with autism, but he was supported by his friends and his fellow students. They tolerated the differences and he in turn was able to flourish despite the challenges. On the walk we visited over 52 schools; we had constituents join as all the way. I was delighted that one mother, Natalie, joined for 180 kilometres and another, Marilyn, joined for 200 kilometres. The walk for them became a totemic statement about their own sons, Lewis and Joel, each of whom has autism. We worked with students all around the electorate of Flinders. I want to thank all my staff who were involved—Tina and Melina, Lyn and Denise, Wendy and my great friend Sue de Bono. The task as we go forward is to push for a national autism summit with three specific goals: firstly, early intervention; secondly, respite; thirdly, individual support. In the brief time remaining I wish to table a petition on behalf of the Mornington Peninsula human rights group, whose views I respect very much.

Anthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

) ( ): I rise tonight again to defend the residents of the Holt electorate and surrounding areas. People who are not from Holt or from the outer suburbs of Melbourne—suburbs like Cranbourne, Narre Warren, Lyndhurst and Devon Hills—are often very quick to judge these suburbs and the character of the people that live there and the industries that sustain these communities. But in actual fact, they know very little about the people, although they rush to judgment about the suburbs and the industries that make up this region. So my grievance contribution tonight addresses again the values, the opportunities and the dreams of the people of the Holt electorate, those little known or often written off aspirations and achievements that are dismissed by people willing to trash talk a suburb based on a sensational incident or article or sometimes even a postcode.

I have often said in this place that I get frustrated with the depiction of Fountain Gate, where my electorate office is, as a suburb defined by Kath & Kim and a party boy called Corey who put Narre Warren on the map for all the wrong reasons or if I read in the local papers recently about driving and speeding offences in Cranbourne. I can tell you for a start that the people in Fountain Gate do not share the particular perspectives on the way they are portrayed in Kath & Kim.

Let me give you a synopsis of the people in my electorate. They are family oriented and they have sacrificed a lot to buy a house, to send their kids to school and university and to maintain their involvement in sport and in their community. They are there to create a better future for themselves, their kids and their grandchildren. Many have come from overseas in postwar years to settle down in Australia as skilled workers or as students. Many others are second, third and fourth generation Australians. In my time representing this area there has been much discussion about young people. Let me tell you about some young people from my electorate that have gone on to do some amazing things.

Let us start, for example, with Andrew Bogut who grew up in Endeavour Hills and has been a sensation for Australia at basketball. Born to Croatian immigrants, Bogut was selected first overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2005 NBA draft. The seven foot, 260 pounds centre was a star at the University of Utah for two years before declaring for the draft. Bogut is the first Australian player to be drafted No. 1 overall. Bogut has played six seasons in the NBA and finished third in votes for the 2006 NBA Rookie of the Year award. Bogut's international career began with Australian's 2003 junior world championship team and has also led him to compete for the Boomers of the 2004 Athens Olympics, the 2006 FIBA World Championship and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Bogut has become a local legend and it is great and salient that he still resides in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne during the NBA off season.

Samantha Downie, another young local, has made her mark on the fashion world since appearing in Australia's Next Top Model. Like many other young people from Holt, she studied at Monash University's Barrie campus, just one of the number of tertiary institutions that are in the region, and that make up a rapidly growing education hub for the south-eastern suburbs. Speaking with students from Casey Grammar in Cranbourne last week about their plans beyond year 12, I was delighted to hear the unlimited nature of their dreams and their aspirations. Some were showcasing their obvious talents for The Wizard of Oz musical at the Arts Performing Centre that the school acquired under the BER funding. Others were planning to study law at university and others were more interested in broadening their horizons with significant travel, work and volunteering opportunities abroad.

Contrary to many media reports, many young people in Holt personify the next generation of investment savvy, career confident go-getters that this country needs. They are financially responsible and independent young people. Apprentices have moved on to complete their trades and many I have spoken to have probably moved into business and home ownership. The last census recorded that Holt had the highest figure amongst electorates for homes being purchased at around 55 per cent. Why wouldn't people want to live at the foot of the Dandenongs where there are great schools, great amenities and great shopping centres like Fountain Gate?

As a long-term resident of Endeavour Hills, I know the appeal of living and raising a family in these suburbs, and that suburb in particular. The high level of home ownership in my electorate tells of the dreams and aspirations of the people in Holt. It says that my constituents believe in creating their financial security based on the quintessential Australian asset, the home, and at the same time contribute to this nation's wealth as best they can.

One of the main reasons families are choosing to come and live in the outer suburbs of Melbourne is the great infrastructure—great schools. In my electorate of Holt the Australian government has invested some $129 million across 101 projects to improve the quality of our schools in the local community via the schools modernisation program, the BER. This was clearly evident when I opened new learning facilities at Chalcot Lodge Primary School earlier this month, including a TV studio, radio station, vegetable garden and cookery centre. All families, teachers and students were delighted with these new facilities, which will make a huge difference in helping students reach their full potential.

Another reason for people continuing to come and live in my electorate of Holt is that it offers families a wide range of sport and recreational facilities for everyone to enjoy. Whatever your sport or recreation needs, you are sure to find what you are looking for. According to the statistics from the City of Casey in Holt, in surrounding areas there are over 620 parks and reserves, 258 playgrounds, 10 skate parks, 21 BMX tracks, many off-road bicycle paths, 200 sports clubs and 105 sports grounds. In addition to these many parks, gardens, playgrounds, skate parks and sporting centres, including Casey Fields, the premier outdoor sports and recreation site in Melbourne's south-east, Holt also offers two exceptional aquatic and leisure centres—the Casey RACE in Cranbourne and the Casey ARC in Fountain Gate—as well as Myuna Farm, where the farm comes to the city, and Frog Hollow Reserve in Endeavour Hills. Frog Hollow Reserve in Endeavour Hills is one of those wonderful multiuse parklands in my local area. This park is surrounded by residential properties along the north-west boundary from the eastern corner at Hallam North Road and the southern end abutting the Monash Freeway. Active recreational facilities currently present at the site include rugby facilities, cricket facilities and Auskick.

It is also worth mentioning that the Friends of Frog Hollow Reserve have played a critical role in improving the local environment, protecting local frog species in the reserve and organising events such as the National Tree Day plantings, which were held on 31 July 2011 and were enthusiastically embraced by many local residents. Two individuals in particular, Steve Hallett and Ray Darbritz, from the Friends of Frog Hollow Reserve, have been working in this area for over 10 years. It has been phenomenal to watch the transformation of a place that was almost desert-like into a lush, green, biodiverse area, a fantastic habitat for rare frogs, flora and fauna. It has been an amazing experience watching that transformation, which has been done by two people.

The Holt electorate is also known for its proximity to the manufacturing heartland of Australia. Some 22 per cent of the workforce in my electorate are employed in manufacturing, which is the most of any federal electorate in Australia. What annoys me is that we hear a lot about the mining boom that this country is going through and the benefits to the national economy, and we do not deny that. But, notwithstanding the terrible news that we have been hearing recently, how often do we make manufacturing front and centre in discussion about the national economy? The workers in my electorate, from forklift drivers, fitters and turners to machine operators and many more, are the people who have toiled away to make a living, and many proudly have the rewards of home ownership and financial independence to show for it. Interestingly, many people who I think are ill informed—and economic commentators, I might point out—dismiss the manufacturing sector, forgetting the incredibly proud history that our sector has and the tradition of Australian innovation and building practices. The comment that I have heard even recently in some discussions is: 'Eventually all manufacturing will go offshore—right?' Keep that sort of attitude and it will. But we cannot afford for that to actually happen. Let me tell you, with the quality of the manufacturers in my electorate and the commitment that they have, they are ensuring that that will not happen. Companies like Jayco, just outside my electorate—an amazing company built by one man—Icon Plastics, Grenda Bus Company, basically run by the Grenda family for many years, are icons of manufacturing in Dandenong. For those who criticise people around and in my electorate, get a sat nav, come down and see that these people are some of the best people in Australia and one of the best electorates in Australia to represent. (Time expired)