Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That this bill be now read a third time.

In doing so, I want to thank all members for their contributions in this debate. Many of the contributions that were made by members were not easy speeches for people to give. Where there have been different views on the best way forward, those views have been put very respectfully, and it's been a fairly extraordinary moment for the parliament. Various issues have been raised where people have suggested different forms of amendments, and there has been a Senate inquiry that has come back and reported during this time as well.

First of all—to remind the House—the bill in front of us provides employees with 10 days of paid leave to deal with the impacts of family and domestic violence. The test that we've used in how we've made the decisions is a really simple principle: that no-one should have to choose between their pay and their safety. And that has taken us down some pathways that do not ordinarily apply to leave entitlements. It's why there is a form of entitlement that is there for casuals. It's why the rate of pay is at the actual hourly rate rather than simply the base rate of pay. To do anything less, in either of those situations, would have reopened the challenge, where workers were being asked to choose between their safety and their pay.

The Senate inquiry has recommended that there be a review in 18 months. The Senate inquiry, specifically, has asked for that review to be given in terms of the impact on business, particularly small business. The government is happy to take up the recommendation that there be a review in 18 months, although the review would deal with the full scope of the impact of the legislation because there are other issues that have been raised where some have suggested that the scope could be widened further.

The legislation in front of us is world leading. We are taking a step that hasn't been taken in this way by other governments around the world. I would like us to take it and the government would like us to take it, and, then, in 18 months time, do the review to see whether questions need to be raised about the scope. But we don't want to take the scope further than we have. Everything we've done so far has been based on that very simple test of making sure that workers are not choosing between their safety and their pay.

Some of the opposition members have raised the prospect of whether the review could be in 12 months time rather than 18 months time. The reason the government will stick with the 18-month recommendation is that we have delayed the implementation for small business for a further six months. Effectively, we wouldn't get the full scope of 12 months of operation if we were to bring forward the review in the way that's been requested by some members of the opposition. That said, I want to thank everybody for their contributions.

I would remind the House of the other actions that the government is taking, in this area, because different contributions during the debate have raised this. I want to thank the Minister for Social Services for the critical work she's doing in her portfolio, including $1.3 billion in women's safety for initiatives to support the implementation of the national plan, delivering on our election commitment to provide 500 additional frontline and community workers to support women and children experiencing domestic violence, $100 million for crisis and transitional housing to assist women fleeing violence, and establishing the new Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence Commission.

The bill won't solve the problem of family and domestic violence by itself, but it's one of the things that can be done and it's something that's before us now. I'm very mindful of the fact that the first employer to introduce this form of leave in Australia—actually, the first place in the world—was a Victorian council. The mayor who did that is now the member for Corangamite. One of the early campaigners on this, when she was assistant secretary of the ASU, is the person who then became secretary and we now know as Senator Linda White. So, in terms of each of the houses, with some of the very early campaigners on this issue, one has been here for the debate in the House of Representatives and we now have the opportunity to send the bill across to the Senate.

I expect it will come back to us briefly. There is a technical amendment still being drafted, as a result of the Senate inquiry, which will be moved as a government amendment, but I hope we are in a situation very soon where we see this legislation go through its final stages and Australia is able to take this step.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a third time.