John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I do not think you know much about this. I do not think you know much at all. What this clause demonstrates very graphically and very directly is that these employees have a choice. They can either sign the AWA—and I will come to the contents of the AWA in a moment—or elect to be employed under the collective agreement and the enterprise bargaining agreement, both of which were formulated before Work Choices came into operation. In addition to that, it is not uncommon under workplace agreements that were approved prior to the coming into operation of Work Choices for certain award conditions to be bought off with higher salaries. What is offered here is a classic full range. You can be employed either under the enterprise agreement or under an arrangement that enables you to trade away some conditions in return for the opportunity of earning a higher salary.

That is the kind of arrangement that millions of Australians want. That is why, by the time of the next election, almost one million Australians will be employed under Australian workplace agreements that give them opportunity and incentive, and why those one million Australians will not want the recipe for chaos and reduction in their living standards being offered by the Leader of the Opposition. We know who forced the Leader of the Opposition to give that commitment before the ALP state conference in New South Wales in June of this year. He will go along to one of the rallies tomorrow and they will cheer him to the rafters because he promised to do everything they asked of him.

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