Phillip Barresi (Deakin, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I’m sure it will. The ALP today are criticising the government for funding a community education campaign on industrial relations reforms even though these reforms affect all working Australians. If you have legislation that affects all working Australians—and, more importantly, you have made amendments to that legislation in the form of the fairness test, which was passed in this chamber with the support of the other side—then you have the responsibility to make sure that you inform the public of the changes that have taken place. We know that the ACTU’s misinformation campaign did take hold. There is no question about that: it did take hold and there has been fear created by the union movement’s campaign. We have introduced a fairness test that has addressed some of the issues that have been out there. And it is important for us to get that information out there. I will detail in a while why it is important to do that.

Unlike the misinformation campaign, which has been funded by the unions for the ALP, the government’s ads are factual and do advise people of their rights. As the ALP well knows, we did introduce a fairness test, we did introduce protections and obligations, and it is important for employees and employers alike to understand their rights, their protections and their obligations.

The ALP clearly do not want people to know the truth about these reforms. We only have to go back to some of the heavyweights in the ALP to know why they do not want us to know the truth. Graham Richardson, an ALP stalwart, admits that they would do whatever it takes to get into power, including spreading lies and fear in the community. John Della Bosca, the New South Wales education minister, said, ‘I think this is a fight to the death, to the last drop of blood, and we have to do whatever we can’—in other words, whatever it takes by those on the other side to make sure that they create fear and apprehension out there in the community.

When questioned about the IR campaigns on the Insiders program the shadow Treasurer was asked, ‘Do you accept that the government does have a responsibility to explain the changes?’ Mr Swan’s response was, ‘It’s outrageous and not justifiable at all.’ He is clearly of the opinion that employees and employers alike do not deserve to be informed of their new rights and obligations under the new legislation. There is a lot of misinformation and a lot of myths in the community about workplace relations. This is deliberate, as the minister showed earlier when he went through all the union ads, including the Annette Harris story, and outlined where the myths and misinformation lie within those ads. So it is beholden on any government to make sure that that is rectified.

Most of the fear that we see out there has been generated by the ACTU and, in more recent times, by the state Labor governments—state Labor governments that are spending their state taxpayers’ funds on a campaign that has to do with federal law. They are running one of the most expensive and misleading scare campaigns in Australian political history. The ACTU are spending tens of millions of dollars trying to deliberately mislead employees about their rights. This is probably way out of date by now but we know that the ALP and union election war chest is around $100 million, which can be detailed: union campaign fund, $30 million; union finances, $27 million; ALP’s projected spending, $20 million; state government spending, $12 million; and projected donations from the union movement towards the ALP’s election war chest, $9 million. They have $100 million to spend, and they expect us to lie down and allow this misinformation, these lies and distortions, to be perpetuated. There is no way we are going to do that. We have a responsibility to the Australian community to outline the changes and the protections that are there. They claim that employers can just take away penalty rates without providing any compensation. That is not the case. Their ads say that it is okay to mistreat working Australians and claim there is nobody who can do anything about it. That is not true.

During the break I tested in my electorate some of the reasons that we need to have these advertising campaigns. I put out a small business survey. One small business person, a fairly educated individual who runs a pharmacy in my electorate, said:

I’m deeply concerned by the ideologically driven agenda which is designed to benefit small business owners at the expense of their employees. I value and respect my employees too much to make them sign AWAs.

If he had read the fact sheet he would know that he does not have to offer AWAs. If he had read the fact sheet he would also know that, if he did offer an AWA and it did not have reasonable compensation, it would be investigated by the Workplace Authority and would be unlawful. If a person of such an educated background can have this distorted view of what the legislation is all about, it is important for us to be out there and to make sure that we correct the information. These ads are essential to counter the lies and innuendo that have been put out there. But the Labor Party are not interested in having us correct the misinformation; instead, they want to see a situation continue where workers and business owners are deceived in Labor’s winner-take-all campaign.

Labor are willing to slag off public servants, teachers, students and anyone who might rock their ACTU campaign. But, like so many things with the ALP, you need only to scratch beneath the surface to find the real hypocrisy within. In question time today we heard one of these hypocritical examples when the Prime Minister got up in answer to a question from one of the opposition members regarding the Queensland education department. In Queensland, in the seat of Moreton, we recently saw a senior public servant, a paid public servant—unlike the Barbara Bennett case of a paid public servant—threaten teachers with sacking if they attended a function at their school with the Prime Minister. The same civil servant was also the convenor and chair of a public forum on the Your Rights at Work campaign. I have the poster here with me. It says: ‘The forum will be chaired by Patrea Walton, executive director, schools, south-east Brisbane.’ This was a senior civil servant in the education department—not in her capacity as a member of the union, though I am sure she is a member of the union, or in her capacity as a community representative but as a senior public servant in the education department—convening and chairing a public forum on the Your Rights at Work campaign.

The hypocrisy of those on the other side who have had a shot at Barbara Bennett, Director of the Workplace Authority, for appearing in the ads astounds me. They are willing to attack this public servant, Barbara Bennett, for appearing in the advertisements. She is a respected, independent authority on this issue. And, unlike the members opposite, she is there to help. It is disgraceful that those on the other side have been attacking her. Barbara Bennett and her staff are there to help employees and employers with advice and support. As long as the union bosses continue to deceive working Australians, we will need people like her out there. (Time expired)

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