Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Schools) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Although I did not make the Theophania this year, I was very pleased that one of my constituents was successful in swimming out and grabbing the cross. So I'm pleased to have been in the chamber for the previous member's contribution. I'm here because a couple of weeks ago I made a promise. I made a promise to a group of workers, many of whom I'm very proud to represent in this place. They work at Australian Paper. Unfortunately, they've not been working at Australian Paper for some weeks now. I'd hoped not to be required to make this speech, but I'm very proud of their resolve, standing up for their hard-won conditions, and also, along with their union, the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union, standing up for the conditions of all workers. What's happened to them is what's happening to workers all around Australia—workers at places like Murdoch University, maintenance workers down in Longford in Gippsland and workers everywhere else where employers are simply not bargaining in good faith. This demonstrates that our rules are not fit for purpose. They're not fit for the corporate morality which is too dominant in Australia today.

I draw the attention of members of the House to those workers at Australian Paper, workers who late last year worked overtime to ensure that Australians could vote in the postal survey to deliver marriage equality. They deserve to be treated with dignity and decency by their employers, and I pay tribute to the union—to Margie, the shop steward, to Dean, the organiser, and to Cindy O'Connor—and to Ged Kearney, the Labor candidate for Batman, who is standing with them now and always.