Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is also addressed to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. Would the minister inform the House what changes the government has made to prevent the imposition of compulsory union bargaining fees on non-union members? Are there any alternative views?

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Stirling for his question. I note that the unemployment rate in Western Australia is now 2.7 per cent, and by the time of the next election one in five workers in Western Australia will be on an AWA. This government has never supported compulsory union bargaining fees. Working Australians should have the right to choose whether they are members of a union or not, and working Australians should have the right to choose whether they pay fees to union bosses or not. We believe strongly in this right. Indeed, today I have announced that the prohibition on compulsory union bargaining fees will now be enshrined in legislation. Previously it was included in the regulations, but the government wants to make this a core issue in the legislation.

I was asked about alternative views. It is hard to keep up with the alternative views because the Labor Party keeps changing their alternative views. Just as I am getting across this wonderful document, Forward with fairness, it changes—in fact, it has changed five times in 10 days. When it comes to bargaining fees, I note that the Deputy Leader of the Opposition has just put out quite a cute press release trying to claim it was not in their policy, but she omitted the key section. Page 14 of the policy of the Labor Party says:

Under Labor’s system, bargaining participants will be free to reach agreement on whatever matters suit them.

And when she went on Neil Mitchell’s program—and we are all intrigued about this—he asked:

… are we getting to the essence of this now then that bargaining fees are banned at the moment ... under your system—

that is, the Labor system—

they wouldn’t be banned, they’d be there for negotiations. Is that a fair comment?

And Gillard replied yes.

So, imagine: I am eating my Weeties this morning, and I picked up the Australian. On the front page of the Australian they say that the Deputy Leader of the Opposition has released a new policy overnight on the internet. So I go to the internet. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition says:

Consequently, agreements containing matters like union preference clauses in hiring or promotion, bargaining fees and preference for particular, highly unionised contractors will not be lawful.

Another change! So, during the course of the night, you can imagine the Deputy Leader of the Opposition saying furiously: ‘Gee, we’re burning a bit on this bargaining issue. We’ll go and put out a press release via the internet to the Australian, changing laws.’

This is the fifth backflip in 10 days. Their policy is unravelling. Policy No. 1: they said they were going to have a one-stop shop. Within 24 hours, the Labor Party realised that they were in breach of the doctrine of the separation of powers. So now the one-stop shop is a two-stop shop.

Secondly—oops—they set down 10 minimum standards but they forgot to add in the minimum wage. The minimum wage—how could you forget that? You can imagine Greg Combet and Julia Gillard sitting there and negotiating on Greg Combet coming into parliament. They forgot to put in the minimum wage. They are so concerned about the workers out there that they forgot to put in a minimum wage! After the Australian asked the Deputy Leader of the Opposition’s office about that, it reported:

Ms Gillard’s proposed 10 legislated minimum standards also omitted a minimum wage, but her office insists there will now be 11 conditions ...

Eleven! Imagine Moses coming down from Mount Sinai. He has been carrying these tablets. He has got 10 commandments. Someone is there with a hammer and chisel, belting away at the minimum wage. Hard work!

The third reversal is on page 9 of their policy. The Australian Labor Party will:

... guarantee that Australian working families have the flexibility of up to 24 months’ unpaid leave to provide care for their child.

God bless. Where’s the member for Rankin? We need him at this moment. He says that if a small business cannot accommodate a request for an extension of parental leave, it need only write a letter giving its reasons. That does not sound like a guarantee to me. So it is not 24 months guaranteed parental leave; it is the 12 months guarantee which is already in the coalition’s legislation. This must be hurting!

The fourth issue is pattern bargaining. I quote from page 13 of the Labor Party’s policy:

Where more than one employer and their employees or unions with coverage in the workplaces voluntarily agree to collectively bargain together for a single agreement they will be free to do so.

That was from page 13 of the Labor Party policy, 10 days ago.

On The 7.30 Report, Kerry O’Brien put a question to the Leader of the Opposition: ‘Do you endorse pattern bargaining where whole industries are brought into line with an enterprise agreement model that has been imposed, coerced—whatever word you want to use—or negotiated with a single company?’ Rudd answered: ‘That is not the approach we support at all.’ So there he was, on The 7.30 Report, reversing the policy. Maybe he didn’t know. I think he doesn’t know.

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

Order! The minister might consider bringing his answer to a conclusion.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am trying to help, Mr Speaker. So, the fifth change in 10 days: bargaining fees. You know what undoes this opposition? It does not get the policy right. The opposition does not understand its own policy. There are some sad faces there amongst the opposition. It does not get the policy right. It introduced a policy 10 days ago. It has changed five times in 10 days. Its policy is unravelling. The Labor Party is not fit to govern this nation. And on the single biggest test the Leader of the Opposition has had, in introducing a major policy at his own national conference, an economic policy, he gets an ‘F’ for failure.