Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move Australian Greens amendment (7) on sheet 5451:

(7)           Schedule 2, item 9, page 99 (after line 23), after subsection 576T(1), insert:

     (1A)    Despite subsection (1), a modern award may include terms and conditions of employment of the kind referred to in subsection (1) if the AIRC is of the opinion that such conditions are necessary to provide a fair minimum safety net.

This amendment relates to state based differences. The bill prohibits modern awards containing state based differences except for a five-year transition period. We appreciate the point the government makes—that it is creating a national system and that historical state based differences have no place in such scheme.

However, we are concerned about the rigidity of the system. We are concerned about the rigidity of the process and the lack of discretion given to the AIRC to include matters that may be relevant and important in maintaining a fair safety net. This, again, came up in the committee hearing. One of the organisations that raised this was the ACTU, but it was raised by numerous other parties who made submissions. We believe that there should be a capacity to look at state based differences to ensure that we have a rigorous awards system and that issues that are relevant to specific states—those that are not historically driven and are genuinely required for the differences between states—are able to be included in this process.