Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Cyber Security) Share this | Hansard source

The Fair Work Amendment (Respect for Emergency Services Volunteers) Bill 2016 goes to the heart of who we are as a nation. It is about the volunteer spirit our nation was built on. It is about our communities and about the ability of our communities to look after themselves.

On Sunday I toured Coleraine and Casterton, where we have just seen the impact of floods. You would say to yourself: what has this got to do with this legislation? Well, it has everything to do with it, because there were houses that had been inundated, there were businesses that had been inundated—and who was there helping those communities? CFA volunteers, SES volunteers and, of course, the hardworking police. They were there because they care about their communities and because they are prepared to volunteer their free time to make sure that their communities get the care that they need.

They do it because they understand how important it is to be able to look after yourself—not to wait for assistance to come from Melbourne, not to wait for assistance to come from other capital cities. It is about who we are as a nation, looking after ourselves, making sure that when you are in harm's way there are people ready to come to your help. What these volunteer groups want, purely and simply, is one thing: to be left alone to be able to do that—nothing more, nothing less.

I say to the member opposite, who seems to think this is a stunt: this is not a stunt. This is one of the most important pieces of legislation that will come before this House, this parliament in these three years. Our communities depend on our volunteers, and the idea that an out-of-control union will try and dictate how those volunteers do that is an absolute national disgrace.

If you think that the union does not care about this piece of legislation, think again. Why did Peter Marshall come to this place and meet with the crossbench senators a couple of weeks ago to convince them not to pass this piece of legislation? Why did the person who is orchestrating this, who has the state Labor government under his control, come here to try and convince the crossbenchers in the Senate not to pass this legislation? If this is a stunt, why did he do that? This is one simple question you on that side need to answer. I do not think you will answer it, though, because we know, a couple of months ago—

Ms Kate Ellis interjecting—

You might yawn. You might yawn and think this is tedious and boring. Go to those Victorian communities who, at the moment, are relying on volunteers to keep them safe and tell them that you think this is boring. You think this is boring. You think this is tedious. Go to those communities and ask those who are there volunteering, trying to protect them. You go and say that to them. Go on. Go on.

See this speech in context