Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

There are more Australians in work; the real net worth of Australians is at its highest level ever, almost double that under the Labor Party; and Australians have higher real net wages, which have grown by 16.4 per cent in the 10 years we have been in government compared with going backwards under the 13 years of Labor. Real wages for workers went backwards under Labor. Under the coalition, over 10 years, a shorter period of time, real wages for workers have increased by 16.4 per cent. These are real net wages, not gross. So I say to the Labor Party that it does not matter what Keynes said, it does not even matter what our beloved Sir Robert Menzies said and it does not matter about the fall of Communism or the Berlin Wall. For Australians looking forward those things do not matter. What matters is the individuals and their capacity to choose how they can lead their lives.

The Liberal and National parties believe in choice. The Liberal and National parties believe that we should empower individuals so they can choose how to lead their lives and raise their children and so they can choose and shape their destinies without the central control of the parliament, of the executive, in their everyday lives. We believe that the parliament and the executive should provide a safety net, but that safety net should never become a cargo net from which Australian families can never escape.

We should never allow the so-called welfare safety net or the industrial relations safety net to close down the choices that individuals have. The member for Griffith in his address said that the new Work Choices legislation is somehow disenfranchising individuals, somehow taking away their basic rights and ‘removing fairness’ from their lives. Let me tell you what fairness is; let me tell you what choice is. These are real workers, the people I tend to speak to. In Port Macquarie 70 workers were able to negotiate an agreement that took the seasonal nature out of their work and provided them with permanent part-time work. Importantly, they were able to convert casual pay rates into their existing agreement. Do you know what that meant, Mr Deputy Speaker? That meant that, for the first time under our Work Choices legislation, those individuals were able to take a contract down to the bank and borrow some money so that they could buy a house for their families.

In Tamworth we met a truck driver who had signed up to an AWA. The agreement allowed him to spend more time with his 13-year-old daughter during the week. The truck driver pointed out that, for the first time, he was going to a school concert organised by his daughter. Why was he able to do that? He could do that because, under a new AWA, he had that choice.

In Cairns I met a sugar mill operator who has a worker who cuts the grass at the sugar mill. The mill operator said that the worker came up to him and said: ‘Can I have one of those AWAs, because I’m involved in the hospitality industry and my wife’s involved in the hospitality industry, and she starts work two days a week at 6 am. I would like to be able to spend more time with my family; can I start work at 6 am?’ Under the old agreement that worker would have been paid 1½ to two times more to start work at 6 o’clock. He would have been in breach of the agreement and, therefore, the sugar mill operator said: ‘I’m going to give you an AWA and you can work whenever you want. I know when the grass is cut.’ That is real choice for that family, delivered by Work Choices.

In Townsville I met an electrician who was able to spend a bit more time working on Saturdays, without the employer having to pay 1½ times or double time, and get home earlier during the week so that he could see his kids play sport. The fear of the employers had been that, whenever they negotiated these sorts of family flexible arrangements, they would end up having to pay 1½ or double time for overtime or weekend work. Under the new Work Choices legislation, choice is in the hands of the workers. They are able to spend more time with their families.

I will continue. In Launceston the member for Deakin, the member for Bass and I came across these examples all the time. We went to an industrial manufacturing firm where the workers had all gone onto AWAs. The AWAs had increased their personal leave from 10 days to 15 days per annum, and it allowed employees working overtime to have it paid as wages after 12 weeks or have it put into their superannuation, or they could take it off as time in lieu. So, under the new arrangements—

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