Mark Furner (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise this afternoon to contribute to this motion about the alleged debacle of the Fair Work Australia investigation into the Health Services Union. I think we should be reminded that this is a new year when those opposite will try to prosecute this conspiracy theory. They go out there and try to scare the public. They run a scare campaign around something that has no substance. They have not been able to provide any substance or any proof here this afternoon or in the past. I imagine that will remain the case in the future.

We should always remind ourselves that Fair Work Australia is an organisation we should never second-guess. It is independent. We should not interfere with the investiga­tions in any shape or form. That goes for the opposition as well as for the government. That is why we have not interfered. It is quite absurd when you listen to the argument of the opposition on this matter, where we have the opposition accusing the government of interference one day and then the next day demanding intervention over the timing of the public release of the final Fair Work Australia report. You cannot have your cake and eat it. You have to work out what you want in this outcome.

With respect to timing in the matter of Fair Work Australia, the short answer is that they want to be thorough. As most of us would realise, certainly all of us on this side, Fair Work Australia is a professional organisation. I had some experience with the industrial relations system for 20 years before I began my career here as a senator for Queensland, and I realise the complexity, the workload and the timing of decisions of the industrial relations system in our country. And here we have the opposition trying to fast-track it and get bits of pieces of evidence, whether it be statements or correspondence, prior to a decision being made. That is not the way it operates. It operates on a conciliatory and professional basis that all of us on this side know will be thorough, complete and delivered in a timely manner.

Oddly enough, you never hear the opposition talking about the good things that Fair Work Australia does—or the good things the industrial relations system delivers to our society, to our working-class families and to people who are vulnerable. I refer to the equal pay decision recently involving 150,000 mostly female workers who, in many circumstances, look after the most vulnerable people in our society. You never hear the opposition championing those sorts of outcomes when they come in here. It was not that long ago when Senator Abetz, I think it was, sought to move a disallowance notice on a regulation that would have awarded those pay increases last year. This is the approach they take when it comes to looking after vulnerable workers in our society. It is not a case of embracing them and making sure their conditions are guaranteed and safe. It is a case of pushing them away.

Senator Abetz interjecting—

We know your form on industrial relations, Senator Abetz, and your form is well known throughout this country. That form was repeated in question time today when an opposition senator from South Australia questioned the government about what we are doing about making sure our roads are safe, making sure that the drivers who drive those vehicles along our highways do not end up in circumstances where they will, unfortunately, one day if the circumstances permit, end up in a terrible accident. The senator questioned why we are looking at awarding those people fair and reasonable wage increases and conditions of employment whilst they drive those heavy vehicles along our highways. That is an example of what is ahead of us should this opposition ever gain government again.

As for other circumstances that Fair Work Australia deal with, we know that the Fair Work Ombudsman ensures that workers get the pay they are due, and we know about Fair Work Australia's proactive education and compliance campaigns. Hundreds of thousands of employees and employers in every state in the country bargain, negotiate and reach outcomes that are suitable and agreed to in their workplaces. When it comes to the policy position of the opposition on industrial relations, you will find them wanting, because they have not and they will not—up until the next election—table any form of policy on industrial relations. Why won't they do that? We know what happened last time they had their hands on industrial relations and they brought in Work Choices. It was the most terrible type of legislation and we know of the insidious effects that it had on workers in our society and how it stripped away the conditions of the most vulnerable people in our working class families. More than four million workers lost basic protections and more than a million suffered real pay cuts of up to $90 a week through one of the most instrumental parts of Work Choices—Australian workplace agreements.

Many Australian workplace agreements cut penalty rates, overtime, public holidays, shift allowances and rest breaks. Young workers, women and casuals were worst affected, and 2.8 million Australian workers lost protection against unfair dismissal. That is where the opposition want to return to; that is what they spoke about today in question time when they questioned the government about why we were looking at protecting workers who drive heavy rigs down the highway and awarding them pay increases. They do not care for blue-collar workers—