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

I think it is always unwise for individual senators to seek to raise specific matters in this forum. I think it is also unwise for the government to respond in relation to those circumstances because, undoubtedly, there will be many issues in dispute between the two parties and, until such time as they are resolved and fully determined, I am not sure that it necessarily assists.

In relation to the general question as to whether or not a person can be dismissed in the face of a company facing difficulties, it nearly seems as though Senator Fielding himself has fallen victim to some of the false claims being made about Work Choices. I forget the exact details now, but literally tens of thousands of workers per month—indeed, per week—separate from their employers in Australia. About 12,000 of those are on an involuntary basis. That was the case before Work Choices. Unless Senator Fielding and those who are opposed to the current laws can make the claim and the point that more people are being dismissed as a result of the current system then, with respect, they cannot make their case.

The mantra of those opposite, as I am sure Senator Fielding will recall, was that, under this new system, there would be mass dismissals and we could expect the unemployment rate to grow. In fact, the exact opposite has occurred. More people are not being dismissed, but more people are being employed—about 360,000 of them, with 97 per cent or thereabouts full time. I would have thought that they were the sort of family-friendly policies that would have been appealing to the likes of Senator Fielding. I invite Senator Fielding to have a look at the industrial relations laws prior to March 2006. In those circumstances, I am sure he will find that the Australian worker today is better off for a whole host of reasons. There are more jobs, there is higher pay and there is less industrial disputation. It really is the trifecta that all Australian families have wanted for a long time, and it has been through the hard work of the Howard government that we have been able to deliver for Australian families in that regard.