Steve Fielding (Victoria, Family First Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

THE first media release Family First ever issued was about the Government’s Work Choices legislation.

That release, dated July 27, 2005, raised strong concerns about the Work Choices Bill and warned the changes would undermine family life by forcing workers to fight for basic conditions that were previously guaranteed.

Family First voted against the legislation because it removed basic conditions such as overtime, penalty rates, meal breaks and extra pay for working on a public holiday.

What Family First warned about almost two years ago has come true. Consider just two cases:

Spotlight staff were offered new contracts which axed public holiday pay, meal breaks and overtime, in return for an extra 2 cents an hour; Cowra meatworkers were sacked and offered jobs on lower pay and conditions. And a government report cleared the abattoir of wrongdoing!

This week is the first anniversary of the Government’s Work Choices legislation so it is timely to review it.

Australian workers and their families are concerned about the changes, even though the Government insists there are no problems and claims the good economy as evidence of its success.

But what about when the economy turns, when interest rates start creeping up and workers are laid off?

Australians workers do not accept that working at 2am is the same as working at 2pm.

Australian families do not think it is fair for workers to do overtime without being paid extra.

They do not think it is right that people can work on a public holiday like Anzac Day without being compensated with a day off and more pay.

Nor do they think it is okay for people to be required to work long hours without a meal break.

While the Government is in denial, Labor plans to rip up the laws which is reckless and will cause huge disruption, particularly for small businesses.

Family First believes we need to strike the right balance—to find middle ground—between protecting workers and their families on the one hand and supporting business, particularly small business, on the other. Both groups deserve a fair go.

That is what Family First’s legislation does—our Workplace Relations (Restoring Family Work Balance) Amendment Bill 2007 is fair and reasonable legislation that recognises the needs of employers as well as employees.

The Prime Minister says workers want flexibility. What workers want is security; to feel secure in their jobs and to know they can bring home a decent wage and are not forced to bargain for basic wages and conditions.

The Government assumes there is a level playing field between employers and employees. But does anyone seriously believe that a checkout operator can sit down with the boss of Coles to negotiate their own salary package?

The Work Choices legislation puts many workers in a more vulnerable situation, and Family First is particularly concerned about those who are least able to negotiate for themselves, including young Australians, the low-skilled and migrant workers. Like other parents, I worry about my three children and what sort of workforce they are going into.

Removing basic conditions such as overtime and compensation for working on public holidays might suit the market but it certainly does not suit Australian workers and their families. These changes undermine family life and confirm Family First’s view that many so-called ‘family friendly’ policies aren’t really family friendly at all. Rather, they are market friendly.

Family First’s Bill improves this flawed legislation and makes life better, and fairer, for Australian families, by giving back to workers what the Howard Government took away: their public holidays, meal breaks, penalty rates and overtime.

Family First’s legislation will also guarantee redundancy entitlements so Australian workers get every cent they have earned.

Currently, there is nothing to stop employers requiring workers on agreements or contracts to work seven days a week with no overtime or meal breaks. There is nothing to stop an employer paying someone the same rate for working at 2am or 2pm. And there is nothing to stop employers from not compensating workers who work on public holidays like Anzac Day and Christmas Day.

Family First’s Bill gives back to Australian workers and their families what the Government has removed.

Under Family First’s Bill, workers who work on a public holiday will be guaranteed a minimum of a day off in lieu as well as time and a half. Existing law says those who work on a public holiday do not need to be given a cent more.

Under Family First’s Bill, workers will be guaranteed an unpaid meal break of at least 30 minutes after five hours work. Existing law says workers are not guaranteed meal breaks.

Under Family First’s Bill, workers will be guaranteed overtime at a minimum rate of time and a half for working more than 38 hours a week. Penalty rates will apply for anti-family hours. Existing law says workers are not guaranteed overtime or penalty rates, so working at 2am is the same as working at 2pm. What a joke!

Finally, under Family First’s Bill, workers will be guaranteed every cent of their redundancy entitlements. This will ensure we don’t have a repeat of the ludicrous situation with Tristar workers being kept on by their employer, even though there is no work for them to do, until they can be sacked on lower entitlements when their agreement runs out.

Family First believes the Prime Minister has failed the ‘battlers’ who have put their faith in him.

We are introducing this Private Member’s Bill to protect those families, and we look forward to the support of both the Labor Party and the Government for our legislation.

Society has an obligation to ensure that all Australians earn a decent wage and have decent conditions, regardless of their bargaining position.

Conditions like overtime matter—they are really important. Many workers rely on overtime to make ends meet. Families rely on overtime to pay for the little luxuries, such as seeing a movie or going to the local Italian restaurant for dinner on a Sunday night.

Yes work is important, and so too is the economy. But we work to live. We do not live to work. Family First’s legislation ensures a fair go for Australian workers and their families by restoring conditions the Government took away.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.