Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in favour of the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 2022. This is an important reform of our industrial relations system, one that works to mend what is broken. These amendments to the Fair Work Act have been flagged and have been on everyone's radar since August this year. And many of those provisions had been flagged several months and years prior to then on the other side of the recent election. This is in amongst reforms that fall in line with election commitments, things that nobody should be surprised about by now. Of course, I'm referring to the abolition of the Australian Building and Construction Commission and the Registered Organisations Commission. These are two entities whose staff were so cognisant of their own demise that they likely started updating their LinkedIn profiles as soon as the votes started being counted on election night back in May. I have said it once before and I'll say it again: the ROC and ABCC should be dead, buried and cremated. This is as explicit an action of a government legislating an election commitment as you can get.

The Albanese Labor government has been upfront with the people about where it stands on industrial relations reform. It isn't about being pro business or pro union. It's about fixing a system that is broken. The Albanese Labor government has also widely consulted, whether it be with state governments of all political persuasions, business lobby groups of both the big and small varieties or unions, a very scary word for some in this chamber, not to mention outside of this chamber too. We can all parrot the same tired lines that wouldn't be out of place in a first-year commerce study group.

The real effect of those opposite's animosity towards unions and the union movement is that wages of working people would simply continue to stagnate. If those opposite consider this an unfortunate by-product of a broken system then they can join with the government on a unity ticket and make these reforms happen. If not then at least we know exactly what's behind the mask. This is despite what you may have heard in the member for Dickson's address-in-reply speech and from others. I know I won't be standing in the way of a pay rise for those who need it the most.

The government is coming into this place and introducing legislation to fix wage stagnation. These are the plans and solutions those opposite keep asking for. Well, here it is! There's nothing in it quite as scary as they would have you believe. Businesses and workers who successfully negotiate single-enterprise bargaining agreements can continue to do so. You have to bargain in good faith before you can think of going into arbitration. It's perfectly reasonable.

Those opposite seemingly condone the practice of pay secrecy at a work place, something that is often used to suppress wage negotiations. They also seem to be for having workers on insecure, perpetual fixed-term contracts, which we want to limit the widespread use of. This is a system where low wages have been baked in for quite some time now. This is a design feature.

I am, of course, cognisant of inflation, but I dare anyone opposing wage rises right now to give me a set of circumstances from the past decade where they felt comfortable with employee pay rises. I wouldn't hold my breath. For everyday working families that are just trying to get by, to feel as if they're improving their lot and their family circumstances after a long, hard year at work, that just simply isn't happening. This is why I'm proud to be part of an Albanese Labor government. We put our election commitments first. We put our big reforms first. And we put working people of Australia first!

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