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

I deny having ignored their plight and deny having not replied. It so happens that a question that I was asked in the House last November was asked by the opposition in the presence of a large number of the Tristar workers. I am aware that there are some Tristar workers here today. I should also inform the House that, on my behalf, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations met the people from Tristar.

I take this opportunity to tell the House that the dispute at Tristar is not caused by Work Choices. That is a fact that was acknowledged this morning by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition when she said, ‘It’s true that the immediate Tristar industrial issue is not a product of Work Choices.’ I understand that the workers’ redundancy entitlement was in an agreement under the pre-Work Choices system. That agreement has been terminated by the AIRC—the umpire under the old system rules. But, due to a change to the Work Choices legislation, the redundancy entitlements remain protected for an additional period of a year. In other words, under the system Labor had wanted us to keep, these redundancy entitlements would have disappeared with the decision of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. So, as a result of an amendment moved by this government, the old redundancy entitlements remain on foot for an additional year. That was not the old law; it is the new law. I think even the member for Batman, as a former President of the ACTU, would understand the significance of that.

In relation to the treatment of Mr Bevan, I have previously said that the company, although it may have behaved within a law which has applied to redundancies for decades under both governments, behaved well outside community expectations and decency. That was made very clear by the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, who, on the day he was appointed, was out there talking to the workers.

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