Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I am very concerned that the New South Wales legislation is likely to be in breach of a number of the ILO conventions, because it denies employees the right to collectively bargain, the right to participate in discussions about their conditions of employment and the right to access an independent tribunal. The fact that the New South Wales bill provides that wages can be determined unilaterally by government and imposed on workers would seem to be a clear breach of those conventions.

Labor understands that both good-faith bargaining and access to an independent umpire are fundamental components of a fair and balanced system of workplace laws, features that have long been at the heart of Australian industrial relations systems. The New South Wales legislation fails this test. For thousands of New South Wales workers there will be no sitting down at the bargaining table. There will be no opportunity to argue their case on its merits before an independent umpire. They will be second-class citizens denied basic industrial rights as a result of the New South Wales legislation. (Time expired)