Gary Humphries (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise and speak in this debate as a representative of the party which Senator Bilyk says does not care about the conditions of working Australians but which, in government, over 12 or 13 years was able to deliver real increases, of almost 20 per cent, in the take-home pay of working Australians. That is an increase in the take-home pay, after inflation, of Australian workers, particularly those at the lowest level of the socioeconomic scale. That was where we demonstrated how much we regard the needs and interests of Australian workers.

It is clear from this debate tonight and from question time that Senator Bilyk, Senator Hutchins, Minister Arbib and, for that matter, Minister Gillard and the Prime Minister are unable to face the bleeding obvious: Labor is in the process, as we speak, of breaking a clear promise it made to the Australian people at the last election, which was that they would implement an award modernisation program throughout Australia without disadvantaging either employers or employees. We can see that; every employer organisation in Australia can see that; a number of unions can see that, and have said so publicly; the media can see that, and they are reporting it; and the Australian Industrial Relations Commission can see that. But, apparently, Labor members opposite and in the other place cannot see it—or, at least, they do not have the decency to come into this place or elsewhere and say so in as many words. I am prepared to say so, as are my colleagues on this side of the chamber.

Labor cannot honour that promise. It is a complete farce, and the process of implementing industrial relations reform is giving flesh to that broken promise in a way which is damaging the interests of employment in Australia. What do I mean by that? It is obvious that, as they fail to preserve the conditions of employees, they are damaging those employees’ conditions in the workplace and, as they impose higher costs on employers, which they are also in the process of doing, they are reducing the prospects of those employers to offer employment in the future and diminishing the opportunity for unemployment in Australia to be reduced.

I am quite prepared to take the Prime Minister at his word on these matters. Only last week the Prime Minister was very explicitly asked on radio about the promise that he made: that there would be neither employers nor employees disadvantaged by the award modernisation program. I want to quote to the Senate what the Prime Minister had to say in response to the question: ‘So, does your promise still stand?’ The Prime Minister said:

So you see if in the determination in large part responsive but made independently of government submissions to the AIRC, firstly a long term transition process because we are acutely conscious of the impact of the global economic recession both on employers and employees; but secondly the specific provisions also to assist with any ups or downs in the process; and thirdly a capacity to review those on the way through.

What does that mean? Is that ‘Yes’, ‘No’, ‘Maybe’ or ‘I am having a good day and I am thinking about what I am going to have for dinner tonight’? This was the Prime Minister of Australia asked to confirm his commitment to the Australian people, to workers in Australia, that there would be no-one worse off as a result of his award modernisation program—and he could not do it. He went on to be asked the same question, in almost exactly the same words, twice more by the journalist and gave answers, similarly mystifying and similarly opaque, which I dare not quote to the Senate in case people fall asleep.

The fact is, as we have heard amply demonstrated on this side of the chamber, that Labor cannot honour this promise. It is a complete farce. As they are going about grappling with the falsity of the promise that they have made, they are doing real damage to the prospects of employment in a whole range of sectors across the Australian community.

I have been talking, as have Senator Birmingham and Senator Fisher, to Australian employers about what is happening in their particular sectors. I spoke last week to the Pharmacy Guild, who talked about how the capacity for students to work on a part-time or casual basis within that industry is being squeezed out by the award modernisation process. The guild has gone to the Industrial Relations Commission to ask them to fix these problems. They are not being fixed. There are serious concerns and these awards begin in a few weeks time. We are not seeing responsiveness to these problems and, as a result, Australian workers and employers will suffer.

Question agreed to.