Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Corporate Governance and Responsibility) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Abetz, the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. I refer the minister to the recent report by Anthony Forsyth of Monash University which confirms that the Howard government’s extreme industrial relations laws have made it easier for large employers to sack workers. Doesn’t this report show that the Work Choices laws include a catch-all exemption which allows large employers to sack workers for so-called ‘operational reasons’ without any requirement of fairness? Isn’t it the case that since Work Choices started the Australian Industrial Relations Commission has thrown out nearly three in five cases where employers cited operational reasons for sacking staff without even considering other circumstances of the dismissal? Could the minister explain how making it easier to sack hardworking employees is good for Australian working families?