Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House insists on disagreeing to the amendments insisted upon by the Senate.

I hate to spoil the atmosphere of the moment generated by my colleague the Minister for Resources and Energy and his opposition friend, but the Safe Work Australia Bill 2008 is an important piece of legislation and the government does insist that it be passed in its original form. It has been a long-held view of the business community in this nation that the single biggest regulatory reform they seek is to have uniform occupational health and safety laws around the country. Whether you are operating a business in Townsville, Tamworth or Traralgon, the laws would be the same. In the middle of this year the government entered into a historic intergovernmental agreement with all states and territories to achieve just that. We are on track to achieve model laws, and in May next year there will be model laws available. Central to that agreement is the creation of a new body to be called Safe Work Australia. Its composition, membership, voting structures and methods of operation were closely negotiated firstly between the Workplace Relations Ministers Council members and then at COAG itself. Not everybody got everything they wanted—such is the nature of intergovernmental discussion—but everybody was prepared to sign off on this.

The Liberal Party has insisted on seeking amendments to the legislation which are inconsistent with the intergovernmental agreement, thereby jeopardising the whole ability of this government, working with our state and territory counterparts, to ensure that we have this major agenda worked through and we achieve those uniform laws. Right across the country people are calling on the Liberal Party to get out of the way and to pass the safe work legislation in its original form. I would refer you in that regard to a media release from the Chief Executive of the Business Council of Australia, Ms Katie Lahey, where she said:

In the current climate businesses need every help to get on with the job. The amendments sought by the Senate jeopardise moves to make business operations and employment of workers simpler across our jurisdictions … The amendments sought by the Senate in the last sitting are inconsistent

She goes on to talk about how business has fought hard for this reform. The Business Council of Australia, representing Australia’s 100 biggest businesses, is saying clearly to the Liberal Party: ‘Get out of the way. Pass the legislation in its original form.’

They are joined by the Chief Executive of the Australian Mines and Metals Association—not an organisation without consequence in the state from which the shadow minister for workplace relations comes. Steve Knott, the chief executive, has made it absolutely clear through his media release of 10 November that they want the Safe Work Australia Bill 2008 passed without delay.

When this matter was last before the House, the shadow minister for employment and workplace relations maintained that if the Commonwealth went to the effort of checking the acceptability of these amendments with states and territories then the Commonwealth would find that they were acceptable. Well, that view from the shadow minister is not correct. The Workplace Relations Ministers Council has met. I informed them of the amendments and they have said the following things in a joint communiqué. Whilst I would indicate that the incoming Liberal minister in Western Australia did express some sympathy with the amendments moved by the shadow minister, he joined without reservation with every other minister around the country in the following statement:

Ministers highlighted that Senate amendments to the Safe Work Australia Bill 2008 were inconsistent with the historic commitment for governments to uniform national occupational health and safety laws as reflected in the intergovernmental agreement … by COAG. … Ministers noted with much concern that the amendments threatened the harmonisation of national OHS legislation, thereby delaying a significant and long overdue economic reform which would enhance OHS outcomes, reduce red tape for business and strengthen Australia’s productive capacity.

State ministers, including a Liberal minister, have spoken; the business community has spoken. We will return this bill to the Senate and we will say yet again to the Liberal Party: in these uncertain global economic times, do not jeopardise this reform.

Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do agree with the Deputy Prime Minister that this is an important national reform. That is why it would be extraordinarily stupid for the government to place that reform in jeopardy by insisting that they are right when everybody else is telling them that they are wrong. In the Senate every Green and Independent senator joined with us in saying to the government that this legislation was fundamentally flawed.

These amendments were supported by ACCI and the ACTU, an organisation not necessarily considered to be a pawn of the Liberal Party. They joined with us in saying that these amendments were sensible and they improved on the legislation that the government has introduced into this House. It takes an incredible kind of arrogance just to turn around and say, ‘No, we’re not remotely interested in looking at these amendments; we’re going to insist on having our way.’ I have news for the government and I have news for the Deputy Prime Minister: parliament is more than just the executive and the government. Yes, government is formed in the lower House here, but we have a bicameral system and the idea that the Senate should not have any say on the way legislation is formed in Australia is unbelievably arrogant and also flawed.

The Deputy Prime Minister insists on talking about the intergovernmental agreement. The reality is that the new state government of Western Australia does not have a problem with most of the amendments as moved by the Senate. Indeed the Deputy Prime Minister herself through her own legislation has not even facilitated all of the intergovernmental agreement as agreed. For instance, she has failed to include within that legislation something agreed within the intergovernmental agreement, which was that the legislation provide for the new body to supply an annual report on its progress to the parliament. That has not been included within the government’s legislation but was insisted on within the intergovernmental agreement.

What is so terrible about these amendments? They are actually relatively simple amendments; they improve on what the government have done. If the government insist on having their own way then they are the ones who will put this national OH&S system in jeopardy. The amendments do relatively simple things. For instance, they outline the objectives of the new body—hardly terribly controversial. They restore effective levels of representation to the employer and the employer representative bodies and they name who those bodies are. Most members of this House would agree that ACCI and the ACTU are the appropriate bodies to represent both the employer and employee groups in Australia. They also free these partners from unnecessary ministerial interference. If the chief executive of Safe Work Australia is going to fulfil their role then they should be able to do so without the threat of unnecessary ministerial interference. Freeing the CEO of Safe Work Australia from this interference is particularly important. They hardly have the freedom to do the job properly if they have the minister breathing down their neck with the threat of sacking them if they do not do what the federal government wants.

Finally, the amendments establish an audit committee to examine the finances and the expenditure of Safe Work Australia. These are hardly controversial things, in my view. They are relatively simple amendments that improve the government’s legislation. They are amendments that every other senator except Labor Party senators can agree on as being sensible. It is quite an unlikely alliance when you team the Liberal Party with the Greens and the Independent senators.

Yet the government is far too arrogant, even in the face of this combined opposition, to consider these amendments. I know that this went to the ministerial council last Wednesday in Melbourne and the reality is that there was very little discussion. I understand the discussion lasted for some 10 minutes and the view was expressed that the partners should insist on the intergovernmental agreement. We believe that this is the wrong strategy. We believe that the Senate has a right to amend government legislation. I would genuinely urge the government to consider their approach or they will be the ones that place in jeopardy this important national reform.

Question agreed to.