Stephen Smith (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry, Infrastructure and Industrial Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is again to the Prime Minister. I refer again to the Esselte AWA. Prime Minister, isn’t it a fact that that AWA provides for an increased rate of pay of $1.25 per hour above the current enterprise agreement hourly rate of pay? Isn’t it also a fact that the AWA reduces the availability of overtime and the rate of pay for overtime, scraps shift loadings for morning and afternoon shifts, scraps weekend penalty rates and does not provide for a wage increase during the three-year term of the AWA? Prime Minister, isn’t it a fact that this AWA leaves a full-time employee working two hours of overtime during the week and a Saturday shift—

Cameron Thompson (Blair, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Cameron Thompson interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Blair.

Cameron Thompson (Blair, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Cameron Thompson interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Perth has the call and the member for Blair is warned.

Stephen Smith (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry, Infrastructure and Industrial Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Prime Minister, isn’t it a fact that this AWA leaves a full-time employee working two hours of overtime during the week and a Saturday shift $60 a week or $9,360 over three years worse off?

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let me say in reply to the member for Perth, firstly, that it is a fact that often questions asked by the opposition are not true. That is a fact. It is a fact that the Deputy Leader of the Opposition made a totally false set of assertions when she asked a question of me about Teys Bros. It is a fact that I am not, for the reasons that any reasonable person would understand, in possession of the employment details of every employment arrangement made in this country. But it is a fact that since this government have been in office we have created 1.8 million more jobs. It is a fact that real wages have risen by 16.8 per cent. It is a fact that that compares with wage rises of about one to two per cent in the 13 years of the previous Labor government. It is a fact that when we reformed the industrial relations laws 10 years ago we were told that they would drive down productivity, they would push up industrial disputes, they would push up unemployment and they would depress productivity. All of those claims were wrong. It is a fact that economic predictions made by the opposition are almost always totally false.

Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade. Would the Deputy Prime Minister outline to the House how the government’s workplace policies have helped exporters and regional businesses remain competitive? How has this increased job opportunities in regional Australia?

Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Cowper for his question. The honourable member for Cowper would recognise that one in four jobs in regional Australia relies on exports. He would recognise that, as a result of many of the government’s policies, unemployment is now at its lowest level in 30 years—at a 4.9 per cent average across Australia. In his area of the mid-North Coast of New South Wales, unemployment has fallen considerably. He would also recognise that there has been significant growth in real wages over the life of our government. It has all been a result of good economic management and a reform process that has helped us maintain our competitive and efficient edge both domestically and internationally in the international marketplace. It is important that we recognise the importance of workplace reforms in helping make sure that Australia’s exporting industries maintain their competitive edge across the world.

There are a number of examples that have come forward in recent days of domestic Australian businesses, regional businesses as well as export businesses, maintaining that competitive edge because of the reforms that our government has put in place. I will give the member for Cowper some examples. There is a company in Central Queensland called Mobbs and Co., which is a steel manufacturer and supplier to mining and rural industries, both export industries, as well as the building industry, including those key exporters. They have been using AWAs with all of their 30 staff since 1997. The managing director, Kym Mobbs, said:

If we hadn’t had AWAs, we would not have been able to compete. Our advantage is that we have the flexibility to adapt to changing customer needs because our staff feel part of our business.

They are part of the business because of the AWAs.

Last night there was a most enjoyable function held in Canberra, and I know that a number of the members of the opposition were there as well. It was the farewell for Peter Corish, the former President of the National Farmers Federation. He spoke about AWAs in his own personal business. With regard to his business, he said:

We have found them very effective in providing agreements that gives certainty for the employees as well as for us as employers.

He said ‘certainty for employees as well as for the employers’.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Childcare) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms Plibersek interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Sydney.

Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will leave the last quote to a small business person from Dubbo. Tina Reynolds, who runs a business called A1 Tree Service, was quoted in the Daily Liberal, the newspaper in Dubbo, talking about AWAs. It is an interesting name for a newspaper. It is in the electorate of the member for Parkes—it is in one of our electorates. Tina Reynolds said about AWAs in her business:

They’ve worked well for us. It’s a wonderful way of communicating between employers and employees. Our employees have sick days, public holidays and all of that.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Childcare) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms Plibersek interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Sydney is warned!

Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms Reynolds said:

If they’re a good employee, because of the skills shortage, your employer is going to look after you.

That is the last word from a small business person. Of course, that is exactly the case: good employers are going to look after good employees. The skills shortage is there, but we have to keep the economy going. We have to keep good skilled staff engaged in the workplace. That is the evidence coming from across regional Australia. I suggest the Leader of the Opposition should listen to the last line of that quote: if you are a good employee, because of the skills shortage, your employer will look after you. So if he is a good employee, because of the skills shortage on the frontbench, his employer, the unions of Australia, will look after him.

Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, just like Spotlight—really look after you.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Leader of the Opposition will come to his question.

Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the fact that a hotel cleaner employed on the relevant ACT award receives the current minimum wage of $25,188 per year. Prime Minister, is it not the case that, had the government’s submissions to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission over the last 10 years been agreed to, that minimum wage would be $22,588—$2,600 less?

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I issue a warning to everyone who is holding up a placard, and I will deal with them immediately if they raise them again.

Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How does the Prime Minister explain to the cleaners present in the gallery today that cutting their wages will make them more efficient, make our economy more productive and how, by cutting the wages of one hotel cleaner, there will somehow magically be two cleaners cleaning the same number of hotel rooms?

Kim Wilkie (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Are you going to apologise?

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I say to the Leader of the Opposition: what matters in relation to economic performance is what you deliver.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Childcare) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms Plibersek interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Sydney will remove herself under standing order 94(a).

The member for Sydney then left the chamber.

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition can gesticulate, the Leader of the Opposition can yell and scream during question time, but that yelling and screaming does not reach the ears of the 1.8 million Australians now in work compared with those who were in work when he last sat on the treasury side of the Speaker. The Leader of the Opposition’s rhetoric cannot alter the fact that—

Kim Wilkie (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Are you going to apologise?

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Swan is warned!

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

all the predictions he made 10 years ago were of a piece with the predictions he is making now. He said then that wages would be driven down. He said then that unemployment would go up. He said then that productivity would go down. He said then that industrial disputes would rise. And every single prediction that the Leader of the Opposition—

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order under standing order 104—this is about the government’s new laws: if he cannot defend them, he should just sit down.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Grayndler will resume his seat. He will not debate his point of order. The Prime Minister is in order.

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Every single prediction he made 10 years ago was proved wrong. I know he is unhappy about the fact that we now have unemployment of 4.9 per cent. I know he is unhappy about the fact that we have one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. I know he is unhappy about the fact that we have 1.9 million more people in work. He is unhappy about the fact that the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund—

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: on many occasions when questions are asked of the government from their own side—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Grayndler will come to his point of order.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

they ask for the alternative views or views of the opposition.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Grayndler will come to his point of order!

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This question has not done that, and I asked you to bring the Prime Minister back to the question under standing order 104.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Grayndler will resume his seat.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: I simply make the point that under the standing orders this is plainly a disorderly point of order taken by the member for Grayndler, and it is plainly part of an orchestrated campaign of disruption by members opposite. It does need to be dealt with if order in this House is to be maintained.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Grayndler is well aware that if he continues to raise points of order I will deal with them as being frivolous.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Grayndler will resume his seat. I have not ruled. In response to his point of order, I am listening carefully to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister’s answer is in order.

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I simply conclude by making the obvious generic point that, 10 years ago, we were told that the world was going to come to an end. We were told that the sky was going to fall in. We know the Leader of the Opposition is broken-hearted that the economy is doing so well, but he should not try to take out his political frustration by asking absurd questions.

Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms King interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Ballarat is warned!