Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to incorporate the conclusion to my speech in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

Conclusion

Workplace reform is one of this government’s key objectives.

At the heart of this reform will be the design and implementation of a new workplace relations system that provides balance, simplicity and modernisation.

It is only through detailed consultation that we will achieve the best design of this system.

The Rudd Government’s proposed new workplace relations system is fair, flexible and productive.

I believe that workplace reform must satisfy three key criteria:

It should be fair.

It should be simple.

It should foster workplace productivity.

‘WorkChoices’ didn’t achieve any of these goals.

It failed the fairness test since it gave too much power to employers, creating an imbalance in the bargaining relationship.

It wasn’t simple, creating a more complex system than the one it replaced.

Finally, it also failed the productivity test. It made the fundamental error of returning us to a framework of conflict.

In modern, flexible, highly skilled workplaces, productivity growth is more likely to be achieved by the development of workplace specific skills, improving morale and encouraging initiative. Unnecessarily pitting workers and employers against each other is at odds with this.

The proposed new Fair Work Australia system is designed with these three goals in mind.

In the very broadest terms, the new Fair Work Australia industrial relations system will be a simple, balanced system that allows employers to get on with business and employees to get on with their jobs.