Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion proposed by my colleague the member for Wannon on the minimum engagement for schoolkids under the Fair Work Act. If you graphed the performance of employers and employees, I am very confident that you would find that that performance has the shape of a typical bell curve. You have good employers and you have not-so-good employers. You have good employees and you have not-so-good employees. But the majority of employers and the majority of employees fit within that middle section of the bell curve, which means that they do their best on any given day. Sometimes they just make the 50 per cent mark; sometimes they are a little bit either side of it. But I think that we need to accept that both employers and employees generally fit within the middle section of the bell curve.

The issue we are discussing today is, I believe, far too important for us to be engaging in adversarial industrial relations. What we are talking about today are the needs of the youth of Australia and how we can properly engage them in the workforce. The issue of after-school work—and I have heard the member for Wannon raise the issue of before-school work—is quite critical to them for a number of reasons, which I will start to cover shortly. In my opinion, industrial awards should not contain provisions which serve to reduce productivity at the workplace or prevent employees from working.

This is particularly relevant for our school students, who have such limited opportunities, as it is, to engage in the workforce. They already have to fit in any employment they undertake around the work they have to do at school, the hours they need to attend, their homework and their additional study. It is not a new concept for our secondary school workers to be working in the retail sector after work. That has been commonplace in Australia for many years. There is also increasing evidence that engaging in extracurricular activities after school is beneficial to our secondary school students; that activity can be participating in youth groups or in any number of clubs. That argument can be extended quite easily and readily to working after school, where these students are normally engaged in activities with adult supervision and it is a structured activity for them.

It provides a significant number of benefits. It identifies and potentially starts a working career, as all jobs are potentially resume building. It can demonstrate a positive work ethic to a future employer when he or she sees that the potential worker has been engaged in part-time work at school. It assists with time management; it is not just turning up to work but is also learning how to structure your tasks and responsibilities. It gives independence. It generates teamwork. It promotes leadership skills, perhaps to others in the workforce but also potentially to classmates and to other family members. And of course there is the financial reward and the concept of earning a living, which I believe is critical for our young people to be learning and developing so they can understand that mum and dad or their carer is not always going to be there to provide them with the money that they need. They need to save and they need to earn some money so that they can save.

The minimum engagement of three hours, I believe, was a significant negative for our students, and I am very pleased to see the variation by Vice President Watson back in September 2011. I think it recognised very clearly that school students in particular need the opportunity to work after school and, potentially, before school as well so that they can develop the skills that are necessary. It was very disappointing to see this matter appealed by the union that really should be supporting workers and the students. I think the matter should not have been appealed at all; it should have been allowed to stand as it was. I would have expected that the union would be significantly across the issues of underemployment in Australia and would have wanted to do something for these students who wish to get out there and to be part of the workforce both now and in the future. I am very disappointed that the union took the action that it did and I do not support them at all.

I do, however, support the motion by the member for Wannon and congratulate him on all the work that he has done so far and will continue to do.

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