Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will start where I left off. Further, the Australian Industry Group have that a number of the requirements of the proposed legislation would be far more onerous and time-consuming than those under the Corporations Act. In particular, they brought up the proposed requirement that insists that all material assets—not only those that raise the possibility of a conflict of interest but everything—must be declared. This disclosure is required of all members, not just the committee. If the legislation goes ahead, officers of registered organisations will be subject to higher levels of scrutiny than directors and all officers or committee members of incorporated associations. The Australian Industry Group also called for the removal of all criminal penalties under the proposed legislation, noting correctly that these kinds of matters should be dealt with under criminal law.

Despite all their claims to the contrary, the Abbott government is aware of how much all this could hurt. A spokesperson for the Minister for Employment has conceded that the concerns of multiple employer groups had been raised with the government. The Leader of the House admitted that members of the National Workplace Relations Consultative Council had suggested that this bill needed to be delayed; that more time was needed as more work needed to be done. But not by this government. Even with the Australian Chamber of Commerce saying that with such little time they could only attempt to review the proposed legislation, this government is still insisting on trying to ram it through.

This government knows, then, that this is bad and hurried policy, but just does not care. Thus we see another pattern emerging here: rushed and panicked policy. Despite advice to the contrary, this government rushes headlong into legislation that is unnecessary and, frankly, dangerous. And this 'grown-up' government is behaving like this on all fronts and not as it had promised; not as it had assured us. It is cracking.

Underneath that cracking facade we see what all of this is really about. It is not about administration to improve accountability or the need for additional criminal charges. This is about a government that hates unions. As we have seen in the past and as we see today, a Liberal government never wastes an opportunity to bully unions and workers. It is not just its ideology; it is its passion. Its calculated contempt is what really underlies this legislation: contempt for the hard-fought wages and conditions that we all share; contempt for the unions that won them; contempt for every single worker in this country—nurses, builders, paramedics, teachers, accountants, people who work in car manufacturing. The government has contempt for each and every one. That is what the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment Bill represents.

If their true intentions are not already abundantly clear, maybe we should take a look at the man who is leading this government. He is not a man who has had a proud history of fair industrial relations; he is not a man who has a legacy as someone who cares about workers. While those opposite may stand up on their soapboxes and protest to the contrary, history says more about this than they ever could. They cannot wave their magic wand and have it all disappear, because we have long memories. We know that this is the party that created that policy with the most ironic name of all, Work Choices. We know that this is the party that removed unfair dismissal laws, shunted fair pay and conditions and tried to ban industrial action. And this is the party that is furtively doing everything that it can to wreck workers and undermine unions once again. That is what this is really about. I urge the House to oppose this bill.

Debate adjourned.

House adjourned at 20:03