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

The Greens will also be opposing—I want to be very clear—these amendments. In fact, we very strenuously oppose them. We believe these amendments are contrary to the freedom of association, to the ILO conventions on the right to organise and to our industrial history. We do not believe that there is evidence that proves these changes are necessary, and, as I stated earlier, the ILO in its most recent report states:

The Committee recalls that the right of trade union officers to have access to places of work and to communicate with management is a basic activity …

I will not read out the whole passage again, but you get the basic idea. We think these changes go too far. They are contrary to the freedom of association provisions and ILO conventions, and we will not be supporting these amendments.