Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today is the first birthday of Work Choices. Since I have been in this parliament I have seen this government celebrate what it thinks are its victories. I have seen the backslapping and the wine drinking in the corridors, and I thought we would probably see that today. I am a wee bit surprised to find that there is no cake, no candle, no big expensive fundraising dinner and no real acknowledgement by the government of the first anniversary of Work Choices, an act which this government claims is the centrepiece of its economic reforms after a decade in government. There is no celebration at all. In fact, if it had not been raised by the opposition today, this momentous day—the first anniversary of the centrepiece of its economic reform agenda—would have gone by largely unremarked upon by a government that claims to believe that Work Choices is the backbone of Australia’s prosperity.

If you believe the government today, Work Choices has been responsible for every new job in the last 12 months and even responsible for every job in the last 15 years before it existed. What an extraordinary piece of legislation the government believes it is! Yet there was no party today: no cake, no candle and no big dinner. Why, given the government’s unswerving faith in these laws, are we not seeing a celebration? The answer is simple: it is all empty spin. There is no unswerving faith in Work Choices. You can tell that by the body language and the silence of the government benches at this moment. There is no unswerving faith. The members opposite know that very well because, just like members on this side, they hear it every day when people come into their offices and tell them of the damage this legislation is doing to their families.

At least after the initial introduction of Work Choices the government had the courage of its convictions and directed the Office of the Employment Advocate to collect data on the impact of the introduction of AWAs. That was until the first figures came out, and they were pretty damning. Suddenly, they directed the office not to collect data. Suddenly there were no more figures. Why, when the Prime Minister believes, as he stated so clearly today, that workers have never had it so good as under Work Choices, would he stop the collection of data? Why wouldn’t he want to prove with data that this legislation is so good? It is simple: the Prime Minister and the government know that it is not true. They know that they would not survive the truth. They know that these unfair workplace laws are hurting workers and their families. They know the same way that all of us on this side know: people come to our offices every day and tell us. If the members opposite were honest, they would admit that people come to their offices every day and tell them that.

The government know about the damage these unfair laws have inflicted and they do not care. They do not care about the damage. They only care about making sure that there is not any blowback for them. They do not want to become their own collateral damage, and they are prepared to leave the workers of Australia worse off and without security, whatever it takes to protect their own jobs. We hear the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and the Prime Minister rave on and on at question time about how they care about jobs. We know very well that they care about their own. But they will leave these unfair laws and the damage in place, and they will tough it out to keep their own jobs safe.

What we get from the government is endless political spin about Work Choices. Let us look not at what they say but at what they know. We know they know this because the figures are out there from the Office of the Employment Advocate and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. We hear a lot from the minister about how women are better off under AWAs. But, to compare, women on AWAs working full time earn an average of $2.30 less per hour, or $87.40 less per week, than women on collective agreements. It is worse for part timers, and for casuals it is worse again. Women on AWAs who work as casuals earn $4.70 less per hour for every hour they work than those on collective agreements. This is fact, not spin. Looking more generally at AWAs, 100 per cent of them cut at least one so-called protected award condition. The government have cut far too deep with this unfair Work Choices legislation. They have gone a long way too far. They can deny it and they can ignore it, but the constituents out there will not. (Time expired)

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