Matt Thistlethwaite (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Here we go again. Despite all of the uncertainty in the global economy and a government dealing with issues associated with keeping our economy strong and supporting jobs; despite the uncertainty that the business community faces—being worried about a two-speed economy and how the benefits of the mining boom are going to flow to them—despite the fact that there is a review going on into Fair Work Australia at the moment; despite the fact that manufacturing is dealing with the pressures associated with a high Australian dollar and the government is supporting manufacturing in this country; despite the fact that in important sectors of this economy we face a skills shortage, and the govern­ment has a comprehensive set of reforms to promote vocational education and training in our economy; despite the fact that constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians is high on the agenda in this parliament at the moment; despite the fact that the eyes of the nation are on this parliament, its politicians and its plans for the future, you might think that the opposition, in the limited time that they have available to discuss matters of so-called public importance, would try to direct some of that attention to a policy issue.

Perhaps they might want to enunciate an alternative vision for government in this country—to outline some of their policies and plans to deal with some of the issues that I mentioned earlier. But, no, for the second day in a row they have come into this place and resorted to gutter politics. They have resorted to mudslinging again—a highly inappropriate and unprecedented pressure that they are trying to exert on an independ­ent authority regarding the conduct of an investigation that is currently underway.

Those opposite have also been involved in putting highly inappropriate pressure on the New South Wales Police Force regarding the conduct of an investigation into that matter. In that respect I draw the Senate's attention to a letter that was written by none other than Senator Brandis in September 2011 to the Police Commissioner in New South Wales, Andrew Scipione, in which he states:

I am writing to you to request that, in accordance with your standard procedures, you make an assessment and, if appropriate, direct your officers to make an investigation into those allegations in order to determine whether an offence against the law of New South Wales has been committed ...

It was highly inappropriate for a member of the Senate—a politician in this country—to be putting such pressure on a police commissioner to conduct an investigation.

I must take issue with the reference that Senator Brandis made earlier to the Fair Work Act. One would expect that someone of Senator Brandis's standing and esteem in this place and high standing within the Liberal Party—he is a former barrister; in fact, I believe he may even be a QC or an SC or whatever they call themselves these days—would be able to read in context the provisions of the Fair Work Act. Senator Brandis came in here quoting section 577 of the Fair Work Act, which is about the performance of the functions of Fair Work Australia. He outlined that Fair Work Australia:

… must perform its functions and exercise its powers in a manner that:

(a) is fair and just; and

(b) is quick, informal and avoids unnecessary technicalities; and

(c) is open and transparent; and

(d) promotes harmonious and cooperative workplace relations.

What Senator Brandis failed to explain and understand was that those functions which are spoken of in section 577 are well out­lined in section 576. That section is detailed and deals with the functions conferred by that act on Fair Work Australia in relation to the National Employment Standards, modern awards, enterprise agreements, workplace determinations, minimum wages, general protections, unfair dismissal, industrial action, right of entry, extension of the National Employment Standards, unlawful termination and, indeed, other matters. The functions in section 577 do not deal with the manner in which Fair Work Australia conducts investigations. In fact, the current investigation being conducted by Fair Work Australia is not being conducted under the provisions of the Fair Work Act—the provisions that Senator Brandis referred to are not the provisions under which this investigation is being conducted. The investigation is being conducted under the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009, a completely separate act. Yet Senator Brandis comes in here and attempts to mislead by stating that the provisions of the Fair Work Act apply in this case.

When the Constitution of this nation was written and when the nation was federated, our forefathers believed in certain principles. One of them was the separation of powers—and for good reason. They believed in liberty, justice, due process and the presumption of innocence. Those principles are being impinged upon by the opposition in the undue pressure they are attempting to place on an independent authority and the New South Wales police service with regard to this matter. This was an issue that was understood by the former Prime Minister John Howard. He said, and Senator Collins outlined this earlier, in relation to a police investigation being undertaken in 2007:

It's a police investigation and the appropriate thing for me to do is to let the police investigation run its course, and then, if it is appropriate, I will have something to say.

The former Prime Minister John Howard was exactly right. He was spot on.