Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I move opposition amendment (10) as circulated in my name:

(10)  Schedule 1, after item 22, page 36 (after line 3), insert:

22C At the end of section 613

Add:

        (3)    Notwithstanding the other factors set out in this section or a provision in a workplace agreement or an award, an employee who wishes to attend commemorative events on Anzac Day, or to support the attendance of a member of the employee’s family at commemorative events on Anzac Day, shall be taken to have reasonable grounds for refusing a request to work on Anzac Day.

This amendment is in comparable form to the amendments that I have just moved but it deals with the question of Anzac Day. As the Prime Minister and other members of the government have had cause to observe, Anzac Day is probably the most significant national date on the calendar each year when we truly come together in the spirit of being Australians. Of course we have Australia Day as well, but Anzac Day has grown to have a particular status, a particular significance, for all Australians. Very hearteningly, it has come to have a particular significance for young Australians. I am one who is very optimistic that, even with the passing of the generations, Anzac Day will continue to be a very important day in the life of this nation each and every year.

On that basis, the force of this amendment is to give an additional protection to those who seek to have Anzac Day off. Once again, this is exposed to the same scheme in the Work Choices legislation that says, on the one hand, employees are entitled to a day off on public holidays and then, in the next section, says that an employer may request an employee to work on a public holiday. There is in section 612(3) of the legislation the ability for the employee to refuse a request where they have reasonable grounds to do so. The force of this amendment is that it will clarify that it is a reasonable ground if an employee is committed to attending Anzac Day events or supporting the attendance of a family member at Anzac Day events. That ought not to be too much to ask for working Australians on our most important day of national events in the calendar.

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