Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Finance, Competition Policy and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition does not support passage of the Fair Work Amendment (State Referrals and Other Measures) Bill 2009. While we are supportive of a national workplace relations system, we do have several concerns about the way the bill aims to achieve this. These concerns were detailed in our coalition senators’ minority report and I do not need to repeat them here in great detail. However, in summary, our concerns were, firstly, that this bill effectively hands control of the Commonwealth fair work laws to the states and, secondly, that the bill would place thousands of businesses and small workplaces at the mercy of Labor’s botched system of modern awards.

Although we appreciate that we do not have the support of the Senate for the coalition amendments that would have addressed our concerns, I would nonetheless like to record their purpose and effect. Our two amendments, when considered conjunctively, would have had the effect of removing the need for what the bill describes as the ‘fundamental workplace relations principles’ and retaining the existing termination of state reference provisions contained in the Fair Work Act as they currently apply to Victoria, while expanding them to include any other state which has referred its industrial relations powers to the Commonwealth. These amendments, had they had the support of the Senate, would have removed the need for the complex and clumsy termination of state reference provisions in the bill as proposed. They would have simplified the bill, while enabling it to take one step further and build on the Howard government reform of achieving a truly national workplace relations system.

In the interests of time, and recognising the view of the Senate on our amendments, they will not be moved. Despite our support for achieving a national set of workplace laws, we do not support this bill as drafted for the reasons I have outlined. It pursued a laudable aim, I must say; however, it does so in a manner unacceptable to the coalition.