13-October-2005
Speeches, Workplace Relations
Mr ROBB (Goldstein) (3.49 p.m.)—The deliberate campaign of dishonesty, misinformation, scaremongering and misrepresentation by the Labor Party and the ACTU—we have seen it since May, we have heard it in spade loads here today and we have seen it all week—must be seen for what it is: a political campaign. Those opposite are embarking on a political campaign. Their motive is to change the government, not to protect the wellbeing of Australian families. They could not care less about that objective. Their objective is self-serving; their objective is to change the government. It is a political campaign. ACTU Secretary Greg Combet let the cat of the bag in May when he said, ‘It is about changing the government.’ These reforms are seen by the Labor Party and the ACTU as a political opportunity to turn their fortunes around. Both the Labor Party and the ACTU are desperate in this regard because the only thing that has fallen faster over the last 20 years than the Labor primary vote is union membership. (Quorum formed)
Those opposite only have their hearts in this because they see, wrongly, a cheap political opportunity to get back in the race off the back of their opposition to these fair and sensible policy reforms. They have not got their hearts in it because of any genuine disagreement with the policies being proposed, because those opposite know in their hearts that these changes are necessary if we are to protect and grow the quality of life of Australian families. They know that if we are to spread the benefits, such as the benefits of flexibility that exist in some parts of the economy because of past changes, across the economy, we need to build on past changes and remove more of the roadblocks and third party interference that are holding back much of the energy and productivity of a lot of workplaces across the country.
So it is a political campaign not motivated by any genuine concern. The only attacks have been dishonest misrepresentation of the material that we have put in front of the opposition. For weeks, if not months, they asked for details. They have now had them for a week—and what have we seen? We have seen only dishonest misrepresentation. We have seen them fly things up the flagpole here all week, only for those things to be exposed. We have seen them dishonestly misrepresent the AWA of a small operation in Queensland. We have seen them dishonestly misrepresent public holidays. All they have done all week is make a series of dishonest misrepresentations of what is proposed. They do not have their hearts in it other than for political motivations. (Quorum formed)
As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, it is a political campaign by our opponents opposite. Sharan Burrow, the President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, gleefully started a doorstep interview this week with the statement: ‘Well, good morning, Comrades. This is a fight that the labour movement has been waiting for.’ For Sharan Burrow it is simply the basis of a membership drive for an organisation that now represents less than 17 per cent of employees in private enterprise. The Leader of the Opposition was saying on national radio yesterday, and again in the House today, they can run this thing all the way through to the next election. All these comments betray the real motives of the Labor Party and the ACTU, and so does their body language.
Look at what they have been doing all week. Look at the disinformation, the level of the rhetoric and the fulminating. The Leader of the Opposition was almost going to explode this week with the fulminating that he has gone on with. Then there is the feigned anger of the Leader of the Opposition. Here is a man trying to cover up a few deficiencies. There are also the overstatements. Think about what has happened all week. Think about their comments. They have overreached on every issue. They have exaggerated. They have gone too far. The credibility of their case has been undermined day by day as they have overreached.
It is betraying their desperation. They have an eye on the polls—don’t you worry about that. Do not listen to what the Leader of the Opposition just said about never commenting on polls. He might not comment on them too much, but by golly he is always looking at them. Their body language this week has been betraying their desperation. These actions, these approaches to the debate, are all unwitting symptoms of a mob that has no genuine interest in the likely effect of these reforms on the wellbeing of Australian families. It is all about reversing their own political fortunes. It is all about saving their own skin. It is all about looking after their own wellbeing, not the wellbeing of Australian families. It is a political campaign, pure and simple, by the Labor Party—an opportunistic grab for political advantage off the back of misinformation and scaremongering.
We have seen another extraordinary example of this blatant misinformation and hypocrisy in relation to the claims about the treatment of the 38-hour week in our workplace. This week we had the member for Throsby, Jenny George, and the President of the ACTU, both saying things to that effect. ‘What a joke.’ Sharan Burrow said. The Prime Minister has spent years saying he cares about work and family. ‘The 38 hour week,’ he says, ‘on the one hand, is protected. On the other hand, you can average it over a year.’ ‘What a joke,’ says Sharan Burrow. We heard similar sentiments from the member for Throsby, who is a former President of the ACTU.
A simple scanning of some publicly available agreements negotiated by various unions indicates that unions have regularly and for years agreed to the averaging of a 38-hour week over a year in exchange for other benefits. There are seven, eight or nine unions here—all members of the ACTU. Either Sharan Burrow and Ms George are grossly ignorant of a standard practice that they have been fully across or they have sought to deliberately mislead the Australian public as part of Labor’s disinformation campaign over the government’s workplace relations reforms. If Ms George and Ms Burrow truly believe that averaging over a year is an attack on work and family, why have they not publicly and strenuously sought to stop the unions, who they are ultimately responsible for, from negotiating this common practice? It is blatant hypocrisy and it is misinformation. The truth of the matter is that, in many cases, the averaging provision has helped save jobs, and job security is at the heart of creating strong and happy families.
The Leader of the Opposition waxed lyrical in an attempt to denigrate the motives and the determination of this government to protect the wellbeing of Australian families. The soft option is to rant and rave and to give up on real reform, but the Leader of the Opposition has a history of shirking the hard decisions. If you go back to when he was Minister for Employment, Education and Training, there are some classic quotes. ‘I lost a lot of ambition and I stopped straining. I thought there was less capacity to achieve in that portfolio than just about any I have had,’ said Mr Beazley. Mr Beazley as minister for employment gave up on the unemployed, and now he stands here and lectures us about taking hard decisions, about maintaining and protecting the living standards of Australian families.
This government has no intention of shirking major policy decisions. This is a big reform but a fair reform. It has been well thought through. It is overdue. If we do not make these reforms, we will be left behind. Other countries will run past us and outcompete us. Australian families will be left behind. These changes are necessary if we are going to continue to grow this economy. It is a strong economy that provides job security, higher wages and better conditions and it is a strong economy that provides for the wellbeing of Australian families. The only reason we are proposing these changes is to deliver on the workplace relations system that will give more flexibility, grow the economy and help Australian families. (Time expired)