Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Hansard source

Just briefly, there are some things that do need to be responded to. I invite anybody to look at the Horticultural Industry (AWU) Award of 2000 and the Metal, Engineering and Associated Industries Award of 1998 and to go through the stand-down provisions and find any argument as to how they are materially different from those which we are proposing in this legislation. I will not be holding my breath for an answer.

In relation to the no-disadvantage test, yes, we did remove it, but once again it is only half the story. The opposition will not tell you—until interjected upon—that it was replaced by five basic minimum conditions and an Australian Fair Pay Commission that will set standards et cetera beyond which you cannot contract. In relation to Tristar, I in fact did respond to all those matters. This seems passing strange. If we did not legislate at all and if we did not have a package of amendments being debated here now, would the Tristar employees be any better off? The simple answer is absolutely not. So to somehow try to portray this legislation as being an affront to Tristar workers is absolutely disingenuous.

In relation to Work Choices, we have had the arguments time and time again in this place about whether or not workers are better off. What I do know is that since Work Choices came into being there have been another 200,000 jobs created in this country. Unemployment is now at a historic 4.6 per cent low and real wages are continuing to go up. Since the Howard government came to power, with all its industrial reforms, workers have enjoyed a 16.5 per cent increase in real wages over 10 years. During the 13 years Labor was in government, with a trade union movement with its feet under the cabinet table, the workers got a 0.2 per cent real increase in wages. That is why when the workers of this country look at their pay packets each week or each fortnight they see real wage increases the like of which the Labor Party could only dream of. Labor could only dream of it and we actually delivered it, because we were willing to make the tough decisions to reform some of the tax and industrial relations practices in this country.

The only thing I would ask my fellow Australians to consider in this is: if workers are so much worse off today under the Howard government, why is it that industrial disputation in this country over the past 10 years has been at the lowest level since records were first kept in this country? You would have thought that if workers were dissatisfied there would be a huge spike in industrial disputes. In fact, it has come right down and it is at its lowest level since records were first kept. That is the record of the Howard government, and we stand by it. We are proud of that record, we are seeking to ensure at all times that workers are looked after, and the record of the government speaks for itself.