Bob Katter (Kennedy, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was briefly a union representative in my younger days and I was brought up deeply steeped in the traditions of unionism and what it had done for this country. It amazes me that people are so ignorant of their history, so I felt compelled to devote a fair bit of my life to writing a serious history book about Australia. That history book says that, this time last century, in 1912, one in 31 who went down the mines—whether it was in Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales or Western Australia—never came back up again. They died from accidents. In the report produced in, I think, 1922, Dr Crompton said that for every one who died from an accident, there were 30 who died from lung disease.

To bear that out, when you walk out of this place you will see a big picture of the first member for Kennedy, Charlie McDonald—my predecessor. I am very proud of Charlie McDonald. Charlie had to leave this place because he was effectively dying of miner's phthisis, the lung disease. The first Labor Premier anywhere in the world, the first leader of a Labor government anywhere in the world, was Anderson Dawson, the Premier of Queensland. He had to retire from politics and took to alcohol really just to overcome the incredible pain that he was living in. Of the 2,000 people who dug the sewerage ditches in Sydney, every one of them who worked there for more than two years died of miner's phthisis lung disease. This could easily have been stopped with damping down laws. They had it in South Africa, where they were protecting the indigenous miners over there. They had it in Wales, where the English or London landholders treated the poor Welsh miners like slaves. They had it there, but they did not have it here. We had no damping down laws. So the trade union movement in the early days—I think even Labor people would admit it ran rather badly off the rails from the fifties onwards, but it is starting to restore itself now.

Obviously in discussions with these people, we have had requests on issues from the trade union movement—much maligned by people in the opposition on a continuous basis—and one issue is arbitration. I also want to say, and I think it is important to say, that Andrew Fisher, the third Prime Minister of Australia, also left this place because of lung disease, and his father died of lung disease. If you look at a representative sample of the early Labor politicians, then you had an almost universal problem with every single one of them—either dying or dead or in dreadful pain—as a result of a simple lack of governments will to protect mineworkers.

This bill, the Fair Work Amendment (Arbitration) Bill 2013—the ALP made very big of reintroducing the arbitration commission, and God bless them for it. But as a person who has, over the years, become someone of a very cynical persuasion, I said at the time, 'You won't be getting your arbitration rights back'. The arbitration commission was restored, called Fair Work Australia—a jazzy name, but it is just the arbitration commission restored—but there was a little hitch. I might add as I go past that before 2007 the only time in Australian history that a Prime Minister lost his seat in parliament was when the then Prime Minister abolished the arbitration commission. Stanley Bruce lost his seat in parliament. The second time that a Prime Minister lost his seat in parliament was when he removed the arbitration commission—that is, John Howard. I regarded John as a very fine person personally, but unfortunately it will be a terrible blemish upon himself and his government that he took our right to a fair go away from us.

The towering ignorance of the opposition in this place, and in elements of the ALP as well, means they do not understand. Kevin Rudd quoted it in this place, but Kevin let us down with this legislation, I can tell you. Kevin Rudd quoted the founder of the arbitration commission in Australia, if you like, with his famous comment that a contract made by one person is, by definition, not a contract. And that is what you encounter. A young fellow came up to me and told me his boss said this. He said: 'There's your workplace agreement. Just sign there down the bottom.' He said: 'Hold on a minute, don't I get to look at it?' He said: 'You can look at it all you like, but the job you are doing is available under those terms and conditions. And if they’re not acceptable to you, then you don't accept the job. We'll have to get someone else to do that job.' So he says: 'My way or the highway.' The bloke just shrugged his shoulders and pushed the form in front of him. The point I am making here is this: if you live in the real world, you know that if you do not have an arbitration commission and you do not have a trade union mechanism for collective bargaining, then you will work for nothing in this country!

All right, the ALP government restored the arbitration commission. Good on them; that is wonderful. But there was a little catch 22. One of the prominent union leaders in Australia was in this place. I said, 'Have you seen this legislation?' She said it was disgusting. I said, 'Well!' And she said, 'Do something about it.' And I thought, 'Well, there's a beauty! I'm an Independent in this place and I've got to do something about it. She's one of the more powerful trade union leaders in the country and she's telling me to do something about it!' But here is the catch 22: yes, you can go to the arbitration commission to get an increase in your pay or change in your conditions—those conditions might be dangerous—but to get that change you have to go on strike. The definition is a 'serious economic loss', which amounts to a strike or a lockout. Lockouts are pretty rare, but when they do occur—that is, a strike or a lockout—they become extremely dislocative for the people of Australia. Immense hardship is placed on the people of Australia if people are forced to go out on strike to be able to get access to the arbitration commission.

We had a very bitter and bloodthirsty situation in Queensland when the lights were turned off by striking electricity workers in a little division of the power industry in Queensland. They would not switch the lights back on and the government eventually acted with a very high degree of brutality, which I think was excessive even though I am ashamed to admit I was in the government at the time. When the lights are turned off, people react with extreme anger against the people who are striking. We should not have in this country a requirement that to get into the Arbitration Commission you have to dislocate people's lives and disrupt and damage the economy. Without collective bargaining we will be back where we were a hundred years ago. I can give you case after case after case of increasingly dangerous operations in industry, mining and everywhere else. People are desperately trying to make ends meet. I do not blame the mining companies and I do not blame the industrialists or any of the other employers who are desperately trying to make ends meet. What happens in that situation is we get cut back. Overlayed on top of this, the government are flying in foreign workers as well, which is undermining our pay and conditions. This legislation today gives you access to the Arbitration Commission through conciliation without have to go to strike. (Time expired)

Bill read a first time.

Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 41(c), the second reading will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.