Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

They do not have the guts, because they are a bunch of cowards, to put on the record their allegations against a dedicated, loyal, hardworking public servant. Instead they go around the corner and ‘background’ journalists about a public servant doing something that is entirely within the Public Service Code of Conduct. At the same time they vote for the legislation that directs this woman to go out there and promote the workplace laws, and they come into this place like a bunch of hypocrites and say to all and sundry that somehow we are acting deceitfully in complying with the law.

A bit of truth needs to be put on the record here about the union advertisements which are running about Annette Harris and Spotlight. What people do not know about that ad is that Annette Harris—quite properly, because she was not happy—rejected the AWA that was offered. And do you know what? Annette Harris kept working at Spotlight. The ad suggests that Annette Harris was done over by her employer and forced onto an AWA. That is just untrue, because she rejected the AWA, rightly, and then continued to work for Spotlight for a number of months.

How about the ‘AWA cuts conditions’ ACTU ad? It says: ‘In the job contract they cut my pay by over $1,000 to do the same job.’ That may very well be unlawful. But is it legal to force an existing employee onto an AWA? That is the second ACTU ad that is untrue. The third ACTU ad is set in the boardroom. It says that we can cut all these wage rates for employees. Again, it is untrue. The fairness test ensures that an individual agreement that simply trades away penalty rates, overtime pay, shift allowances and public holiday rates is not legal. You must be compensated under the fairness test. In the fourth ACTU ad—dispelling the myths—a boss forces an AWA onto an employee. It is illegal to force an existing employee onto an AWA. The fifth ad: boss forces AWA—No. 2. The ad says: ‘I have been here for 15 years. If you think Australian workers and their families will be better off on individual contracts, think again.’ Well, I will tell you what: not if you are employed at WorkDirections. They offered 45c an hour as a trade-off for penalty rates. That is the Labor Party’s policy—individual contracts. They say it is okay to offer 45c an hour. You will be hearing a bit more about that in the lead-up to the election.

In the next ad—dispelling the myths—a boss sacks a mother because her children are sick. Again, it is against the law. But don’t let that stop the ACTU from running the ad. It is unlawful to sack someone because they are upholding their family responsibilities. In the next ad—dispelling the myths—a boss sacks a mum, No. 2. Again, it is unlawful to sack someone because of their family responsibilities. Boss sacks a mother in an additional ad from the ACTU—additional ad No. 3. All emotion and no fact and it is against the law.

‘Costing families’ is the new ACTU ad. All these ACTU ads—it is amazing. The ad goes on to say that John Howard’s IR laws are starting to bite. Higher wages, more jobs and the lowest strike level since records were first kept in 1913. It is damn right that our laws are biting. They are delivering more jobs at higher wages. Another ACTU ad is ‘Real people’. It will be interesting to see this. It features an abattoir worker at Cowra. The Workplace Ombudsman investigated the case of the abattoir worker and found that the ACTU’s representation of these workers did not add up. Again, it did not tell the truth.

And how about the ‘sitting ducks’ ACTU ad. It says that the Howard government said that the IR laws will not affect you—unless of course you have lost your unfair dismissal rights. Tell the President of the Labor Party that—you have given an individual contract. Tell the workers at WorkDirections that. Are you going for your first job? Your employer is cutting costs—you change your job. Again, in the last 15 months 365,000 new jobs have been created. Over 90 per cent are full time.

How about the ‘three generations’ ad. Again, it does not tell the truth. It talks of getting $11 an hour with no penalty rates, no public holiday rates and no protection from unfair dismissal. You cannot lose your penalty rates under the Howard government laws. Then there are the building industry laws. The CFMEU is running an ad saying that you can be fined up to $110,000. Workers cannot be fined or jailed for taking action because of concerns about an imminent risk to their health or safety. The CFMEU is lying.

In the Victorian Labor government ads on the workplace advocate, real Victorians talk about how they have been hurt by the federal government’s Work Choices laws. The Victorian government have not got the guts to take back power for workplace relations. Instead, they run ads in which they have a sham advocate. It is all part of the battle. The irony of it is that the Labor Party vote for us to have promotional campaigns and then they come into this place and go outside to the media and feign their outrage. The Labor Party is so concerned about the actors in the workplace relations ads that one of their own members, the President of the Labor Party in Tasmania, has allegedly sacked a worker against Tasmanian state laws. And no-one in the Labor Party, particularly the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, has lifted a finger to help that worker. If it were someone who had been sacked by a small business, or by the Lilac City Motor Inn, or by some other organisation such as Spotlight, you can bet that the Deputy Leader of the Opposition would be out there crying to the world that it is outrageous that Work Choices has done that.

Then there is Sharan Burrow. Every time she goes on TV I say to myself ‘Amen’. Thank God for Sharan Burrow—she does not let us down. She is the new face of modern unionism. You can bet your bottom dollar that there will be a Sharan Burrow in every workplace on the dark day that the Rudd Labor government comes into power. Sharan Burrow and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition will be out there in every workplace, followed by Kevin Reynolds, Kevin Harkins, Greg Combet, Bill Shorten and Dean Mighell. We want to keep the ETU candidates in the field. We want Kevin Harkins to stay as the Kevin Rudd endorsed candidate in Franklin so that the people of that electorate get to see who will control Kevin Rudd in government. For all the zero tolerance in the Labor Party, Joe McDonald is still proudly a member of the Labor Party and in fact renewed his membership only a short time ago. When it comes to these union thugs the Labor Party and the Labor leadership are weak, hypocritical and indecisive. They cower to the union bosses and the union thugs. That is why the Labor Party is built, owned and operated by the people who represent only 15 per cent of the private sector workforce.

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