Andrew Bartlett (Queensland, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

The government announced its changes to the workplace laws a week or so ago with great fanfare and with huge expenditure of public money to tell everybody about them. They are so proud of these changes that they do not want anybody to have a look at them. That is how fabulous they think these changes are. They want to send them to a committee without having the legislation there for the committee to look at.

The title of the legislation itself, the ‘Stronger Safety Net’ bill, should be struck out on the grounds that it is misleading. This government rammed through legislation destroying the safety net, and for them to then put back a couple of threads and say that they are creating a stronger safety net has to be one of the most farcical misuses of the English language yet, and that is saying something for this mob.

This is not about opposing the legislation. For starters, we cannot oppose it because we have not seen it. As I said yesterday, it was the Democrats that played the pivotal role in ensuring that the safety net was there for the 10 or so years of the Howard government until they got control of the Senate. Anything that starts to put back in place the Democrats’ safety net we would be likely to support, even if it is only putting back a few threads. It is not about opposing the legislation. The Democrats are very proud of pointing to the safety net that we put in place against this government’s initial wishes—as was made obvious when they ripped it apart at the first chance they got.

Let us not forget what we have seen here. We have seen huge full-page newspaper advertisements all over the country paid for out of the taxpayers’ pockets to advertise the coalition’s new policy. That is corrupt behaviour and it shows how low this government has sunk. It is treating every coalition senator as a mushroom. It is assuming that they will support this sight unseen. All of the newspaper ads have gone in before the parliament has even seen the legislation, let alone passed it. That we could have public money spent telling people about a change that the parliament has not even seen, let alone endorsed, shows how much contempt this government has for its own senators, for its own back bench, for the Senate committee process, and it now expects some thanks or kudos for putting in place a derisory inquiry.

Nobody knows when this legislation is going to appear. Indications are that it might appear around the end of the month. What are people meant to put together submissions on—a newspaper advertisement or a press release from the Prime Minister? Leaving aside this government’s unbelievable record of deceit over more than a decade, the matter of basic incompetence in putting together legislation is precisely the sort of thing that Senate committee inquiries find time and time again because of the expertise from people in the area being examined. These are not all faceless, nasty, trade union bosses or thugs thundering in and giving the committee evidence. These are people from across the spectrum, people whom the Democrats always look to—as our record shows—to take a balanced approach to legislation. These are people that will not adopt mindlessly the trade union side or the big business side. They are people who have expertise in the area and will be able to say, ‘You might have put a newspaper ad out there saying that this is what is going to happen, but if you look at what is in the legislation it is not going to work like that.’ What do you do then? Do you pay for another bunch of newspaper advertisements? I am sure that you will take any chance you get to grab more taxpayers’ money to advertise. You have already put all the advertisements out there and you do not even know what is in the legislation—it is not even finished yet. You do not know whether it is going to deliver what you have already said in the newspaper advertisements, and this parliament is supposedly going to rubber-stamp it.

I remind the Senate and the public again of the Prime Minister’s pledge when he got control of the Senate. He said that he would not misuse his power, that he would not let it go to his head, that he would not use it arrogantly or inappropriately. This is yet another breach in a very long line of breaches of that most basic promise about an area which is fundamental. The government itself says that it is fundamental and for years the Democrats have said that it is fundamental. It is a key part of our economic prosperity, work and family balance and opportunity for people throughout the community. That is why we have got to get it right. It is not about being for or against the legislation. It is making sure that whatever is in it, whatever policy intent there is behind it, actually works properly. This is total contempt for the Senate process. (Time expired)