Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will be brief in talking about the report of the Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee on the 2011-12 additional estimates. One area that I am keen to draw to the attention of the chamber is that confirmed in item 1.11 of the report. That was the move of higher education away from this committee to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee and the concern, as expressed by my colleague Senator Mason, that there was not sufficient time to be able to investigate and scrutinise the higher education elements in the Economics Legislation Committee as indeed there had been under the Employment, Education and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee.

I also draw attention to item 2.9 of the report—Timely supply of evidence. Responses to questions during the hearing uncovered the fact that erroneous information had been provided to the committee in answers to questions on notice. I am pleased to record that the chair emphasised that corrections to evidence must be presented to the committee not only in a timely manner but as quickly as is practicable for the benefit of members of the committee and the chamber.

I turn to the Office of the Building and Construction Commissioner. I note the report of the commissioner, Mr Johns, in which he advised the committee that since October 2005 the ABCC had litigated 90 matters and had been successful in 76 per cent of those matters, that being 84 per cent, and that in the last financial year alone the ABCC had finalised 15 matters and been successful in 13 of the 15, being in excess of 90 per cent.

In estimates the committee addressed the levels of confusion among many volunteer organisations, particularly as the Safe Work Australia and fair work provisions will apply to them. There was a robust discussion in this area and it is one that I think all senators need to be conscious of and concerned about. In the work that we do we all come into contact with the many hundreds of thousands of volunteers around Australia who provide their time and their labour, their expertise and their interest on a free-of-charge basis, and it would be very difficult to estimate the effect on the budget of the impact of volunteers. I think it behoves this chamber to ensure that, having regard for legislation, for safe work activities, for fair work et cetera, we do not in any way endanger the enthusiasm, the expertise or the contribution of volunteers in the role that they play in assisting the community. Subsequent to estimates I have had representations from emergency service volunteers in my state of Western Australia, particularly bushfire brigade members and the bushfires brigade volunteer organisation, which you, Acting Deputy President Marshall, would be aware I have a close affinity to. They are coming to the conclusion that they are almost becoming an unwanted species—unloved, if you will. Some of the conditions upon which they now must act are making it such that they are not enthusiastic about acting as volunteers. There are two types of volunteerism, of course. One is associated with improvements to community and the wellbeing of people. The other one is the essential service that is offered by volunteers in areas where it is impossible and uneconomical to replace those with paid services. So I urge that we remain vigilant to the needs of volunteers when we are considering this area.

There has been in this chamber—I do not intend to labour it—much discussion of the activities of Fair Work Australia, particularly its general manager, in terms of the presentation of the report into the Health Services Union Victoria. I believe that matter has now been resolved and that report, belated as it is, is before the chamber and in the public arena. One can only hope the precedent has now been created and, when the next and subsequent reports of Fair Work Australia are to hand, there will be no delay in actually making them public in the interests of all participants.

My final comments relate to ACARA. Subsequent to estimates I was disturbed to learn of allegations of some degree of bias by ACARA. The example given to me was in the last round of NAPLAN testing. I think it was year 7 or year 9 students. These students were asked to critically analyse a piece. The heading of the piece was 'From moo to roo'. I know my colleague the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry would be interested in this too. The text of the document basically was associated with the inappropriateness of cattle production in this country, the inappropriateness of cloven-hoofed animals in our environment and the question of whether there should be a move from cattle production to kangaroo production. This is what these students were asked to critique. The person who presented the piece to me complained to ACARA. They said to him: 'No, you've taken it the wrong way. This was just a piece upon which they were asked to give a critical analysis of bias.' The observation of this man—a principal with long experience in a school system—to them was, 'I don't think that when I was in year 7 or year 9 I had the capacity to critically analyse a document of that nature and comment on it from the point of view of bias.' I will be taking this matter up with ACARA, because the last thing I want to see from a body as important to the Australian education system as ACARA is for it to present to relatively young students a document which I would perceive to be inappropriate and ask those students to comment on it.

I commend the report under the signature of the Acting Deputy President in his capacity as chair of the legislation committee and thank the Senate for the opportunity to take note.

Question agreed to.