Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

It is amazing how, having come in here yesterday, the member for Perth wanted to detail a whole series of facts to prove he was right. As soon as I raised the facts that proved he was absolutely wrong, he wanted to run away, and the Leader of the Opposition is trying to save his sinking ship. He said there was no pay increase. In fact, there was a 10 per cent pay increase over two years—5.5 per cent in the first year and 4.5 per cent in the second year. He said that payment of overtime is at the sole discretion of the employer—again, wrong. In the conditions of employment, it says, ‘Overtime will be paid for at the rate of time and a half for the first three hours and double time thereafter’—set out in black and white in the conditions of employment.

He said:

Under the collective agreement, there is a tool allowance of $12.50 a week.

Under the current collective agreement there is a tool allowance of $12.50 per week. There is no separate tool allowance in the current collective agreement. He said, ‘Under the current collective agreement, there are electrical certification allowances and ACA registration allowances payable each week.’ In fact, they have only ever been payable on the occasion when the employee was qualified in that regard. So, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, and they are just four of the matters raised by the member for Perth yesterday.

On the substance of the question, I go back to the statement by Martin Donnelly. He says: ‘We want either a non-union agreement or an AWA. In fact, under our AWA, employees are going to be around $150 a week better off and I cannot see what people are complaining about. The workers obviously are not.’

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