Cassandra Fernando (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am proud to stand here today, speaking in support of the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 2022. This bill goes to the core of why I put my hand up to represent the people of Holt, and why I got involved in politics in the first place.

I stand here today because I believe that the conditions for workers in this country need to be improved. For too long wages have not kept up with the cost of living, insecure work has been on the rise and gender equity has gone largely unaddressed. I saw this as a worker, as a health and safety representative and as a union organiser. The legislation before the parliament this week is the beginning of the Albanese Labor government's reform to modernise the workplace relations system, because it's clear that our current system is not working.

This situation was not helped by those opposite when they were on the government benches. For nearly 10 years their government's policy of deliberately keeping wages low and suppressing workers' pay made it harder for Australian families to get ahead. Working people in this country have clearly had enough, which is why they rejected the coalition and their antiworker agenda earlier this year. This change of government had an instant effect on wages. We made a submission to the Fair Work Commission, calling for a substantial increase in the annual wage review, and this resulted in a 5.2 per cent increase to the minimum wage. And just last week we saw the fantastic news that there will be a 15 per cent interim pay rise for aged-care workers, which is celebrated on this side of the House.

However, we know that individual wage cases are not enough. This side of the House knows that working Australians need big-picture reform that addresses deep rooted issues in our workplace relations system. The bill before the House today honours the government's commitment to get wages moving and to improve job security. A key part of this reform is boosting enterprise bargaining. For the past 10 years, under the watch of the coalition, Australia's enterprise-bargaining system has been in decline. We know that when the bargaining system is working as it should it lifts wages, reduces wage disparity and leads to lower unemployment, particularly for young people, women and low-skilled workers. Around half as many new agreements were made last year compared to the 2013-2014 financial year. This is the opposite of what we need to see in our economy, and the bill before the House today will address this problem.

This will simplify the requirements that need to be met by an enterprise agreement for it to be approved by the Fair Work Commission. Unions and business both agree that the current requirements are overly complex. This bill replaces the current criteria with one broad requirement: for the Fair Work Commission to be satisfied that an enterprise agreement has been genuinely agreed to. This change will make it easier for agreements to be approved, while maintaining sufficient protection for employees.

Importantly, this bill also introduces a number of measures to tackle gender inequity. Our wage system places a lot of emphasis on the independent industrial umpire, the Fair Work Commission, but currently the commission does not have to consider gender equity when it's making its decision. The secure jobs, better pay bill changes this. The bill will make gender equity a central objective of the Fair Work Act. This means addressing the gender pay gap will be at the heart of pay decisions made by the commission. This is a big change, and an important one. Over the past week we've read commentary from the extreme Left and the extreme Right. They seem to have found common ground in attacking some of the most pro-work legislation this chamber has seen in a decade. I know that those who genuinely have workers interests at heart will be supporting this bill. I commend this bill to the House.

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