Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support this amendment brought by the Manager of Opposition Business. This amendment proposes that we in this House now debate the private senator's bill, the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Small Business Redundancy Exemption) Bill 2023, which has come down today from the other place.

In general, the bill concerns the government's very large omnibus legislation dealing with fair work. The bill that is the subject of this amendment, however, has seen the Senate, very sensibly, extract four elements from the government's very lengthy omnibus legislation and propose that those four pieces be dealt with today. The omnibus legislation, as we know, provides a whole series of controversial measures that the government knew the opposition was never going to support, but wrapped into that are various measures we do support. I commend the motion brought by the Manager of Opposition Business because those four elements that the private senator's bill has sought to extract are four elements that we on this side support. We support this for workers' protection, and in particular we note that small business and the business community generally also supports these proposed amendments. They go to four separate issues: first of all, supporting first responders to cope with PTSD; secondly, changes specifically related to people who are suffering from silica diseases that have been caused in the workplace; thirdly, supporting those in the workplace who have been the victims of domestic violence—these are all very important measures we support.

In view of the comments that were made by the minister for industrial relations when this legislation was first brought before the House, I would imagine that those on the government side will also be supporting this motion. They have said over and over again how important it is that workers' rights are protected, and the private senator's bill will, if passed today—and it can be passed today—ensure those workers' rights are protected.

If we can just go back through a bit of the history of this matter: at the time of introducing the bill, the minister for industrial relations said the House needed to stop delaying because, apparently, we on this side were imperilling the safety of Australian workers. My question is this: will the government today apply that same test? Will it stop imperilling the safety of Australian workers and agree both with this motion and with the legislation? To not support this motion would in fact be a betrayal of Australian workers; that's on the government's and the minister's own test. And it would a betrayal of the very people those opposite claim to always support.

Procedurally, this motion is correct. It is entirely appropriate for the House to determine what matters it considers most important to debate and when to debate them. Given the messages from the Senate contain provisions which would inarguably enhance worker's safety, this is an opportunity to immediately pass these commonsense provisions. It doesn't matter there'll be an argument put that these provisions also exist in the government's omnibus Fair Work amendment bill; when the whole bill comes back before the House, those provisions can easily be omitted during the consideration in detail stage, if the government wishes.

The House must deal with what is currently before it; that is, the private senator's bill—a private senator's bill that we agree would help Australian workers. The government cannot claim that this motion somehow ambushes it and decreases its time to consider the private senator's bill. These bills aren't a surprise. There's already been a vote on them in the Senate, so the government has, in fact, formed a view on them. I congratulate both Senators Pocock and Lambie on doing the hard work to get these provisions through the Senate, and I note that the government did vote against the passage of those bills when they were in the other place.

I think it might be useful, when we consider what the government is proposing to do today, to look specifically at some of the rhetoric that was expressed when the omnibus legislation first came into this place. The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations said:

Members on the government benches are ready to have this debate. We're ready to have this argument. We're ready to close the loopholes.

Well, we on this side of the House are today ready to have this debate.

The Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention said:

That is why I am so pleased to see that, in this proposal, first responders will have better support for mental ill health that has arisen due to their work.

Again, we are prepared to have that debate today, and we are prepared to support those measures today.

The member for Canberra said:

Those opposite will moan about unions and whine about processes but just remember what they're really worried about. They're really concerned about workers getting a fair go.

We are also concerned about workers getting a fair go, and we are here today to demonstrate our concern and to vote on that concern to ensure that workers do get a fair go.

The member for Corangamite said:

Safe and fair working conditions are one of the foundations of our Australian working life. These conditions give workers and their families a sense of security, hope for the future and the basis on which to build a productive and meaningful life.

I would assume, based on that sentiment, that the member for Corangamite will be voting in favour of the motion today.

The Assistant Minister for Social Services said of the closing loopholes legislation:

Very importantly, it makes it unlawful to discriminate against an employee that has been or continues to be subjected to family and domestic violence.

I would imagine that the Assistant Minister for Social Services will be, similarly, supporting this motion today.

To conclude, this is a sensible motion. It provides an opportunity for the government to demonstrate that it does truly support the safety of workers in Australia, by voting for this motion to bring the private senator's bill forward and for the sensible provisions of the government's omnibus fair work amendment bill to pass—and that could pass today.

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