Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Marshall for his question. I know that he has a great interest in the government’s new workplace relations policy. The Rudd government’s policy is not about giving power to employers or unions; it is about getting the balance right—something the opposition have taken a long time to actually come to understand. When they were in government they did not get the balance right. This government took an unprecedented consultative approach in respect of the policy to ensure that governments, players within the system, and corporations—both large and small—would have an opportunity to look at the policy and the legislation that has come forward.

Regarding the specific areas of the new workplace relations system, the government made a commitment in the Forward with Fairness policy on right of entry rules. We are delivering on that promise to ensure that only fit and proper persons are permitted to enter workplaces on behalf of unions and that they understand that their rights come with significant responsibilities. The new right of entry rules will allow unions to view non-member records as well as member records when investigating a breach. Unions will have access to these records only in cases where the records are relevant to a suspected breach of the law or industrial instrument, and there are strong protections in place to ensure that that right is not misused.

As outlined in Forward with Fairness, the low-paid bargaining stream is not in any way about pattern bargaining. It helps facilitate bargaining for those low-paid employees and their employers and it will also ensure that they receive the benefits of bargaining—something that the opposition did not allow the low-paid to access. It will help facilitate bargaining for those who are low paid. Importantly, compulsory arbitration is not a feature of the new system. The system is based on bargaining in good faith. (Time expired)