Dana Wortley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the government’s Fair Work (State Referral and Consequential and Other Amendments) Bill 2009 and a related bill. These bills form part of a suite of legislation aimed at restoring integrity and fairness to our industrial relations system. These are the foundations—integrity and fairness—that once underpinned our industrial relations system. These are the foundations that were seriously battered and, in fact, butchered by the previous government. Most Australians remember only too well the introduction of Work Choices by the former government and the extraordinary national discussion that took place in the lead-up to the last election. We know that Work Choices saw the removal of the pay and conditions standards of tens of thousands of Australian workers. It affected penalty rates, holiday loading, redundancy pay, 38 hours per week of ordinary time, and unfair dismissal protection for workers employed by an organisation with 100 or fewer employees. It is now widely acknowledged that Work Choices facilitated industrial relations changes which actively disadvantaged not only Australian workers but also their families. I received many letters and emails and had many face-to-face meetings with individuals and groups of workers and their partners who told of the devastation that the legislation had brought to their working lives and to the lives of their families.

When the Australian people went to the ballot box in November 2007 and cast their vote—their very deliberate vote—many would acknowledge that Work Choices was a factor in their consideration. The majority of those voters cast their ballots in favour of our Forward with Fairness policy, which means fairness for workers, fairness for employers and fairness for families. I do not propose to revisit the Work Choices debacle at any length this evening. Those dark days have gone. We look to the years ahead; we look to the future. The dark clouds have lifted, but we must remain vigilant. Despite those opposite acknowledging that Work Choices is history, it is apparent that many of those opposite still harbour, in their heart of hearts, lingering memories of the way things used to be—of the way things were. They cherish furtive ambitions to revive, in some coalition-led future, that draconian scheme, in partnership with the Australian people. Labor will work to ensure that this does not happen.

This government is fulfilling its commitment to the electorate—the electorate that rejected Work Choices and endorsed a return to fairness and balance in the workplace. It is a return to the idea of the civilised society that has underpinned our industrial relations system—with the exception, of course, of those few aberrant years prior to the last election when we lived under Work Choices. The civilised society has been prominent in Australia since the Harvester decision, in which, in 1907, the President of the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, Sir Justice Higgins, set the first minimum weekly wage. It was the Harvester judgment that ensured that a worker received enough remuneration to provide decent food, shelter, water and frugal comforts for his family. It was the Harvester judgment that said that every Australian was entitled to every single one of these standards every day of their lives and that if we as a nation did not endorse this we could not claim to be a civilised society. With our Forward with Fairness legislation, we return to a civilised society.

The legislative architecture for our Forward with Fairness scheme includes the bills before us now. It is the product of consultation with a comprehensive range of stakeholders, including employee and employer organisations, small business, industry, and state and territory governments. Amongst others, it included consultation with the ACTU and its affiliates, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Australian Human Rights Commission, the Australian Industry Group and small business organisations. The full list of stakeholders is of course very lengthy. It represents levels of consultation and of inclusiveness in our approach that were, so patently and blatantly, absent in the approach of the previous government.

The Fair Work (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Bill 2009 contains transitional and consequential provisions intended to operate with the Fair Work legislation. This and the Fair Work (State Referral and Consequential and Other Amendments) Bill 2009 will assist workers and business to move to the new workplace relations system with ease. This bill also finally repeals the current Workplace Relations Act, save for schedules 1 and 10. The act will be renamed The Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009 in light of the import of schedule 1. It will enshrine the application, from 1 January 2010, of minimum wages and National Employment Standards for all workers within the national system, including those party to instruments entered into before the new system starts.

The National Employment Standards ensure that all workers will be entitled at the very least to: the minimum rate of pay as set out in a modern award, from 1 January 2010; personal, carers and community service leave; the right, under certain circumstances, to request flexible working conditions; notice of termination; redundancy pay where 15 or more workers are employed; long service leave; and public holidays. These will apply to all workers from 1 January 2010, and will prevail in circumstances where a transitional instrument is detrimental by comparison. There is provision for the phasing in of minimum wages in certain exceptional circumstances. By the same token, the bill ensures that employees’ take-home pay will not be adversely impacted by transition to a modern award. And Fair Work Australia will be empowered to make orders to remedy any reduction to take-home pay for both individuals and groups.

The bill also sets out protocols for the treatment of existing instruments—namely Australian Workplace Agreements—and for award based instruments such as unmodernised awards and so on, once they are replaced by modern awards. The provisions will also allow parties to enterprise awards, or notional agreements preserving state awards derived from state enterprise awards, to seek the modernisation and integration of their award into the modern system. Pay scales, minimum wage guarantees and related minimum entitlements will be protected until 1 January 2010 when the National Employment Standards and modern awards will commence.

Also addressed in the bill are transitional bargaining and agreement-making arrangements. This means that workers presently party to individual statutory agreements will be able, by agreement with employers, to enter into a conditional termination agreement which will allow those workers to take part in collective bargaining. Once a new enterprise agreement is approved, the current agreement will cease. Upon its commencement, the bill will abolish the Workplace Ombudsman whose functions will then be performed by the Fair Work Ombudsman. Fair Work divisions will be established in the Federal Court and the Federal Magistrates Court. Fair Work inspectors will have new powers to ensure compliance with the new rules.

The bill amends schedule 1 and confers Fair Work Australia with the power to make representation orders with regard to union demarcation disputes. In addition, state registered organisations that meet particular criteria will be recognised in the new system whilst still retaining their state registration. With reference to modern awards, the new system will trim down the number of existing awards and make them simpler to locate, read, interpret and apply. Anomalous state award conditions will be phased out over a five-year period, after which they will adhere to the national standard. This will ensure a full five-year period for employers and employees to adjust to the new modern award standard. Modern awards will be reviewed two years after commencement to make sure that they are operating satisfactorily. Thereafter they will be reviewed every four years. Award modernisation represents a practical and long overdue reform of our industrial relations instruments.

The provisions set out in this bill have been given serious consideration, providing genuine opportunity for all parties to have their input. They provide certainty for all parties with an interest in the employment contract. They are fair. The provisions provide employees with a fair safety net of employment conditions that cannot be stripped away. Ultimately, the provisions in the bill provide a right to challenge a harsh, unjust or unfair dismissal for employees. They have as their basis good faith and goodwill, and the endorsement of the Australian people. As I said in this place on a number of occasions, Work Choices reduced people—real living working people with families, relationships and community bonds—to factors in an equation based on the politics of division. This bill and related Fair Work legislation puts an end to that sorry chapter in our national life. I commend the bills before us to the Senate.