Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Mayo said he wanted to challenge two presumptions behind this debate: firstly, that the government regulates employment relationships better than those involved in the actual workplace itself. I think the member for Mayo fails to take into account, as so many on that side do, inequality of bargaining power and the fact that, if these things are left solely to the workplace, solely to the marketplace, what happens is that workers do get exploited and do not get a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. The second presumption he wanted to rebut was that employers are always trying to take advantage of workers. It is true that employers are not always trying to take advantage of workers, but, unfortunately, we do see examples where this occurs.

There was reference made in this debate to Gina Rinehart, whose personal wealth has grown to $18 billion under the oppressive yoke of socialism, and who recently claimed that Australia is not investment friendly or welcoming enough, citing the example of people working for $2 a day in West Africa. Frankly, it is examples like that which cause this side of the House to believe that there is a role for government in promoting fairness in the workplace. This is something we have done as a party based on the trade union movement. It has been core business for us. Since 2007 we have provided a fair minimum safety net comprising 10 National Employment Standards for employees including penalty rates and overtime, a modern award system, and we brought in a no-disadvantage test to protect workers' rights. We have restored fairness in low-paid industries, including safety rates in trucking, including basic pay and training conditions in cleaning contracts, and including extending the operations of most provisions of the Fair Work Act to contract outworkers in the textile, clothing and footwear industry. We have provided decent working conditions for seafarers by setting minimum requirements for seafarers to work on a ship, and we have provided a compensation system that provides a presumption that, if a firefighter develops a certain form of cancer, it is work related for the purpose of determining their workers compensation claim. We have restored the protections against unfair sackings, and we have broadened the definition of pay equity to allow real progress in closing the gender pay gap. This has been core business for us and will continue to be core business for us.

I want to point out to the House that we are discussing with the Fair Work Amendment (Better Work/Life Balance) Bill 2012 the question of carers. The fact is that the government can point to a great deal in responding to the financial, social and emotional needs of carers. The government's National Carer Strategy, developed through the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and the Minister for Health, will support carers in their important role. We enacted the Carer Recognition Act 2010 and released a statement for Australia's carers. We provide assistance to eligible carers through the carer payment, the carer allowance and the $485 million annual carer supplement, which gives carers $600 for each eligible person in their care. We provide automatic eligibility for carer allowance to families and carers of children with type 1 diabetes. We have provided over $10 million until 2013 to continue support for 262 MyTime peer support groups for parents and carers of children with a disability or a chronic medical condition. We provided nearly $10 million in 2011-12 for immediate and short-term respite support of carers of young people with a severe or profound disability, almost $24 million until 2013 to assist young carers who need support to complete their secondary education and money for singles and for couples combined who receive the carer payment as part of our commitment to contribute more than half the revenue from the price of carbon into helping households to meet increased living costs.

We are also laying the foundations for a national disability insurance scheme to better support people with disability, their families and carers. We are proud of our record in relation to carers and we will continue to examine these issues as part of the government's consultation process regarding the Fair Work Act. (Time expired)

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