Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The problem you face, Senator Fielding, by going down this path is that you invite every industry, every subpart of every industry and every employer to say, ‘My circumstances are somewhat different to everybody else’s and I cannot fit into the global picture.’ For years—and you would have heard this too—the opposition got up in here, railed against us and said: ‘The award system is terrible. There are thousands and thousands of awards. There are too many.’ This government, as a part of modernising a fair industrial relations system, has gone through this very thorough, complicated and difficult process, which is being managed very well by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, to significantly reduce the number of awards. I think it is good for industrial relations in this country and good for the industrial relations system.

It is true that a number of industries and a number of subparts of industries are being put into modernised awards or different awards, but the process of consultation is incredibly thorough. People get to make their submissions and argue with the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, which then takes that on board and puts out draft modern awards. The process of consultation then begins. It is true that in some specific cases, such as the restaurant and catering industry in particular, parties have managed to make a significant case for the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations to intervene and to say to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, ‘You need to do that.’

It is clear the minister has that power. If cases can be made in other industries then I am sure the minister, using that power, will also accede to that. What you do not want to do is simply put a legislative framework in place which invites everybody to mount that argument whether it is meritorious or not. I come back to the point that what that will do is invite everybody to say: ‘I am special. I am different. I should have my own arrangements, my own award and I do not want to have anything across the board.’ I think what is happening now is a managed, structured process that is delivering outcomes. The people best able to manage this are the Australian Industrial Relations Commission on the whole.