Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to rise today to speak on the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia's Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill 2021. This bill has been developed with input from a range of stakeholders, including unions and employers, to ensure that reforms are appropriately balanced, providing flexibility and certainty to businesses and important protections for employees. This bill is not ideological. It's not some experiment in economic theory. Rather, it's designed to tear down the barriers to creating jobs.

If I were to boil down my aims in coming into this place and being a senator for Western Australia, they could be summarised in this way. I want to see as many Australians as possible get a job and stay in a job for as long as they can and earn as much as possible while being in that job. This is key, whether it's in the metro areas, the regional areas or even our remote areas. This is key to as many Australians achieving as high a standard of living as possible.

I've seen firsthand how jobs can change lives. Many on this side of the chamber have experience in creating jobs across all sectors of the economy. We see that as a good thing, not as some form of exploitation. I've seen the difference firsthand in countless numbers of lives when people have been able to get a job, many of them for the very first time. Many of you know, as I've spoken about this previously here in the Senate, that prior to coming into parliament I was involved in an organisation called Generation One that worked across Australia to create jobs for Indigenous people, whether in remote locations, in regional areas or in our cities. Through the work that I was doing, I saw over 28,000 long-term unemployed Indigenous jobseekers take up sustainable work.

But that wouldn't be possible if those jobs were not there. It wouldn't be possible if we didn't have an environment in which to create jobs. I want to see more of these opportunities created. I want to see more of these opportunities able to transform and change lives. Employment won't change everything, but, without it, nothing will change. If we're going to truly deal with the systemic issue of entrenched welfare dependency, we have to have an environment where the jobs are there so that people can take up those opportunities, so that they can be fulfilled by engaging in a meaningful career, so that they can see the benefit of work not only for themselves but for their families and, in many cases, their whole community. But it's only possible if the jobs are there. The government engaged with employers as part of this process. We also engaged with the unions, to hear about how we could create the flexibility that is required, create the right environment that is required, create more jobs and ensure that those jobs are sustainable.

This is one of many bills which the government is strengthening and which are hastening our economic recovery from COVID. At the height of the pandemic, 1.3 million Australians lost their jobs or were stood down on zero hours. Just think about the impact of that. It's a big number, 1.3 million, but it actually represents the lives of individuals and families. This government has been singly focused on doing everything that is possible to ensure that those jobs are returned. We've seen remarkable figures throughout these last 12 months, in both the decreases in unemployment and the increases in economic activity. In fact, the Treasurer has told us that over 90 per cent of the jobs that were lost due to COVID have been returned. This is due in large part to the underlying strength of our economy before we even went into the pandemic, but it's also due to the support of the economy with measures such as JobKeeper, temporary or targeted increases to JobSeeker, small-business cash-flow support and the HomeBuilder program. It's also due, in large part, to our handling of the health aspects of this pandemic.

Australia was the first country in the world to close its international borders, to stem the flow of the virus. The second most important factor in the health area was procuring our own sovereign production of a vaccine, to help us get out from this situation that we find ourselves in. We have managed our way through this, but part of the recovery out of this is to ensure that we create the right environment for more and better-paid jobs. That has always been the imperative of this government, since we were first elected. As more people return to work, our accelerated tax cuts will also have an increasing effect of economic stimulus. Over $2 billion a month in extra take-home pay is flowing into the economy due to our accelerated tax cuts. These were implemented long before the pandemic even hit, and thank goodness they were, because they're now having a real impact on the economy and its ability to recover.

There is so much more to the economic recovery and reform than just stimulus and tax. One factor which has remained largely untouched is industrial relations. It's a dangerous area for a Liberal government to attempt to reform, some would say, but courage is required to keep this country on a road of continuous employment. I commend the Minister for Industrial Relations for all his work on this bill, as well as his partners in consultation, including the unions, employer groups and experts in the field. The breadth of cooperation achieved is one of the lasting silver linings—if there are any—from COVID. Long may this spirit endure, and may the mortal combat that has long been present in this sector end.

It's extremely disappointing, I've got to say, to hear that the Labor Party is opposing this bill, after such rigorous consultation was undertaken—consultation that was undertaken in good faith. The changes contained within this bill build upon the same cooperative spirit the country so successfully embraced during our approach to the pandemic. We've heard some very dramatic language from the Labor Party, harking back to the Labor Party of old, with a worker-versus-employer mentality. This dramatic language just does not fit with the reality of this bill, which is not extreme in any way and in no way represents a drastic departure from the current industrial relations regime—which, it must be said, was implemented by the Labor Party when they were last in government. Work Choices this not.

We also heard from Senator Faruqi of the Greens describing the unions as experts in industrial relations. That would be akin to describing the Greens as experts in economics! We had hoped that 2021 would see the Labor leader, Mr Albanese, adopt a more mature approach to industrial relations. Sadly, the Labor Party's opposition to all of the government's industrial relations reforms shows that they remain fixated not on solving problems but on playing politics and turning workplaces into battlegrounds. This is unacceptable. This bill will support the government's commitment to Australian jobs and our continuing economic recovery by providing certainty to businesses and employees in relation to casual employment; by giving regular casual employees a statutory pathway to ongoing employment by including a casual conversion entitlement in the National Employment Standards—a very important reform; by extending temporary JobKeeper flexibilities; by giving employers the confidence to offer part-time employment and additional hours to employees; by streamlining and improving the enterprise-agreement-making and approval processes; and by ensuring that industrial instruments do not transfer when an employee transfers between associated entities at the employer's initiative, and I could go on.

It provides greater certainty for investors, employers and employees by allowing the nominal life of greenfield agreements made in relation to the construction of major projects to be extended and it strengthens the Fair Work Act compliance and enforcement framework to address wage underpayments. Wage underpayment—we hear those opposite point out, rightly, the need to address the issues of wage theft in this country. They rightly point that out, and here's an opportunity to actually do something about it; but because of the ideology of those opposite, they stand against it. Businesses must have the confidence to hire and ensure that employees receive their correct entitlements. And this bill also seeks to introduce measures to support more efficient Fair Work Commission processes. This is important as well.

As we've shown throughout the pandemic, the government is determined to implement measures that will regrow jobs, boost wages, enhance productivity and benefit both employers and employees by providing the best possible outcomes for all. Let's hear from some of the stakeholders, shall we? In the Master Grocers Association's submission to the inquiry on this bill, they said:

… unless these reform measures are implemented our economy will continue to stagnate. Reform of the industrial relations system is imperative.

The jobs in that industry—in retail and grocery—are, for many, the first jobs that they may get. There are great careers working in that sector, but there are also great first jobs. If we don't create the environment or the flexibility—particularly for young people, something that I know you're also very committed to seeing, Madam Deputy President Chandler: young people being given the opportunity to get ahead—if we don't have the right environment and support, then how can these opportunities be made?

We heard from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia, my home state, in their submission on this bill:

Modern awards failed to provide the flexibility to facilitate alternative work arrangements necessary to accommodate government restrictions, with limited capacity to obtain timely and meaningful variations through the Fair Work Commission (FWC).

The efficiencies in this bill mean that the commission can respond in a timely and efficient way and are absolutely essential. This bill goes to remedy that problem.

The Fair Work Ombudsman welcomed the funding announced by the government in this bill. It will provide support to the ombudsman's role in achieving better workplace compliance. The Australian Industry Group pointed out in its submission to the bill that over 80 per cent of casuals do not work for large corporations. This is the beloved bogeyman of those opposite—that the large employers are evil people. The reality is that over 80 per cent of these jobs are with small and medium enterprises. They submit that the current cost risks are threatening to drive many small businesses into insolvency and threatening to destroy the livelihood of a large number of small business owners.

Let's not forget that much of this bill would not be necessary were it not for Labor's complete failure to legislate competently in this space. We are fixing Labor's mess and their inability to define 'casual employees' a decade ago. We're introducing a clear definition of what it means to be a casual employee. The lack of wage growth bemoaned by many years is in fact occurring under an industrial relations regime that those opposite put in place. It really beggars belief.

Before I close I want to touch on the provision in this bill relating to compliance and enforcement. By introducing tougher penalties, this bill will better protect employees from wage theft and it will deter dishonest employers from undercutting their competitors. It will facilitate more efficient recovery of wage underpayments and encourage businesses to identify and address underpayments more quickly. But we're seeing Labor oppose this. What a shame. What a travesty. So much for being the party of workers. They gave that up decades ago. We will introduce stronger protections for employees through measures, including tougher penalties and orders to deter noncompliance.

This bill will put downward pressure on unemployment. It will work to simplify awards and make it easier to recover unpaid wages. It will codify a pathway for casuals to transition to permanent employment. All of these things will benefit the Australian economy and Australian workers, despite those opposite pontificating. I commend this bill to the Senate. (Time expired)