Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Blair for that question. I know of his deep concern for fairness in the workplaces of the working families in his electorate. Today the Australian Industrial Relations Commission is holding its first formal public consultations into our award modernisation process. This is the important first step in creating simple, workable and modern awards for Australian employers and employees for the future.

On this side of the parliament we have always believed that at work Australian workers should have a safety net on which they can rely and that awards are a vital part of that safety net. But, of course, awards need to be in a form for the modern economy. They need to be simple; they need to be fair; they need to be workable; they need to be flexible. We have asked the Australian Industrial Relations Commission to begin a process to modernise awards so that on 1 January 2010, when Labor’s new workplace relations system is fully operational, there will be simple, modern awards on which Australian employers and employees can rely.

This approach is a stark contrast to what has gone before. There was a period under the Howard government when there were attempts to simplify and rationalise awards. The first attempt to simplify awards came to nothing. It was a task that took too long and was ultimately a complete failure. The second attempt to rationalise awards actually did not get past the discussion paper stage, so nothing effective was done. But is it any surprise really that nothing effective was done to modernise awards when those opposite—who were in government and are now in opposition—do not believe in a safety net at work?

Whilst of course there has been much discussion of the divisions between those opposite, they do not know who should stay and who should go—whether the member for Mayo and the member for Higgins should be in this parliament or be outside it. They do not know who should lead the Liberal Party, whether it should be the current leader, the member for Wentworth or the member for North Sydney. No doubt there will be other starters—maybe even the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. You never know.

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