Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Ray Evans was right to call the government on the contradiction between the Howard government’s propaganda and its actions, just as Des Moore, the Director of the Institute for Private Enterprise, was right when, in a speech on 3 December 2005, he said:

This new legislation is shot full of contradictions that, on the one hand, purport to “allow Australia’s employers and employees the freedom and the choice to sit down and work out the arrangements that best suit them” but, on the other hand, continues to severely constrain that freedom.

The Work Choices regulations contain a list of prohibited content. Apparently, Australian companies need to be protected from the possibility that they might want to make an agreement with their workers on some matters. The regulations prohibit the provision of payroll deduction facilities for union dues. The regulations prohibit leave to attend training provided by a trade union. I did not realise that Australian companies needed the Howard government to legislate to protect them from the possibility that they might want to agree to provide their workforces with payroll deductions for union dues. I did not realise that Australian companies needed the Howard government to legislate to prevent them from agreeing to send their workforce to union training.

The CFMEU, in my home state of Western Australia, set up the Construction Skills Training Centre in Welshpool, which is very highly regarded by its clients and provides quality training to workers. But apparently Australian companies need to be protected from themselves, just in case they might have the strange idea that training centres, like the Construction Skills Training Centre in Welshpool, might assist their workforce to be safer and more productive.

The Howard government have sent a clear message to the companies of Australia: ‘You can choose to bargain but only on our terms. You can choose to bargain on those issues we want you to bargain on, but you cannot choose to bargain about issues we prohibit.’ General Secretary Stalin would have been proud of the Howard government—even if the HR Nicholls Society is not.

Question agreed to.