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

The sad part about the industrial relations debate is the untruths being spread by the government side. I can say that in all honesty, Mr Deputy President, because, like you, I did represent workers before coming into this place. And, like you, Mr Deputy President, I have seen myriad unfair, unbalanced Australian workplace agreements. History will judge the Howard legacy, and no doubt the Howard legacy will have a large contingent of bitterness about industrial relations. This government won the last election; there is no doubt about that. Mr Howard had absolutely no mandate to tip the Australian industrial relations system on its head. But that is what Mr Howard did, with help from honourable senators opposite, back in, I think, November 2005, when the government guillotined debate on the Work Choices legislation and rammed it through this place.

I have the privilege of travelling around the great state of Western Australia, speaking to a lot of people from all walks of life—people who are employed under Australian workplace agreements and people who have children employed under Australian workplace agreements. There are two levels of Australian workplace agreements. Prime Minister Howard, Mr Hockey and the rest of the government love to flag workplace agreements in the highly paid mining and resources industry. They do not like to talk about those disgraceful Australian workplace agreements found in the retail, hospitality, transport and construction industries. The government never wheel those out, because they are so disgraceful that they are embarrassed. But that is what Mr Howard’s legacy will be. Honourable senators opposite, you are all guilty—you all supported the legislation. You could not wait to ram it through. You will live with this legislation, and you will live with the effects that this legislation will have on the next generation of workers.

Yes, we are in a mining boom. In my state of WA, more than in any other state, we really are witnessing the mining boom. I have the privilege of going through all of those north-western communities, none more so than Karratha. You can make two visits in Karratha and on the Dampier Peninsula. You can go out to Woodside or you can go out to the Burrup and look around. I know the Burrup very well because I was driving trucks and helping to create that LNG gas plant back in the eighties. I also know of the ballooning of the population in Karratha.