Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

I'll just make some brief comments on behalf of the government in relation to the amendments that have been circulated by the opposition, to essentially highlight the point that we have given careful consideration to each of these, and that consideration underpins the particular approach we have taken.

For example, in relation to paid family and domestic violence leave, the primary purpose of this bill is to implement the government's commitments in response to recommendations made in the Respect@Work report. This bill, in the government's judgement, is not the appropriate legislative vehicle to consider broader reforms to family and domestic violence leave. The Fair Work Commission is currently reviewing the family and domestic leave clause in modern awards. Further consideration of the issue of paid leave by this government will be appropriately informed by the commission's consideration of this issue.

In relation to the question of representative actions, as outlined in the government's Roadmap for respect, there is already an existing mechanism to enable representative proceedings in the Federal Court under part IVA of the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976, and, given these avenues, it's not clear that a further ability to make representative claims is required. In relation to cost protections, there are mixed views on whether the model recommended by the Respect@ Work report and adopted in one of the amendments that the opposition has proposed based on section 570 of the Fair Work Act will actually address the issues identified with the current model. For example, as part of the consultations for the Respect@Work report, Victorian Legal Aid outlined their view that this model would still provide a disincentive for applicants, given it would not enable them to recover their costs, even if they were successful.

In the interests of time, I won't go through a comprehensive response, but I can assure the House that the government have carefully considered the amendments on their merits, and we've arrived at the views we have based upon policy considerations such as the ones I've just run through.

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