Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Defence Amendment (Fair Pay for Members of the ADF) Bill 2014. Can I start off by responding to Senator Bernardi and admonishing him for selectively quoting from a press conference that I did. It is very disappointing on an important issue like this to see selective quotes being used to try and support Senator Bernardi's argument. I made it very clear in that press conference that we welcomed the government's decision not to cut the real pay of our defence personnel, but I made it clear that it is only the first of the three years of the deal where this will be the case.

On the government's own inflation forecast, two per cent will again be a real pay cut, if 2.5 per cent is the expected inflation rate next year. That is the government's forecast. I accept that it can vary, but let me be very clear. What I said at that press conference was that, if we believed as the inflation numbers rolled in that the government were going to again cut the real pay, we would be coming back to debate it with them. We would not be satisfied with allowing the government to cut next year's pay in real terms, or the third year's pay in real terms. So, while we do welcome the government's decision to reverse its cut, we are not saying that we are signed up to the deal over the full three years, because if inflation is exactly what the government has forecast it to be they will again be cutting the real wage of our defence personnel.

Can I indicate Labor will support this bill. I know there are a number of senators who want to speak on this bill, so I will keep my contribution short. We are here today because the government betrayed the men and women of the ADF when they decided last year to cut their pay. This bill, as a minimum—a minimum: this is the point that needs to be made very clear—links ADF pay to the higher of the increase to CPI or parliamentary allowances. This puts in place a floor that ADF pay cannot fall beneath. Through this bill, our ADF personnel know that their pay will, at the very least, always keep up with the cost of living. Nothing in this bill stops the government of the day providing a higher increase, which is what it has been dragged kicking and screaming to do. But it will prevent the government from doing what the Abbott government so callously did last year, and that was to cut the pay of our service men and women.

We are supporting this bill because this government cannot be trusted to do the right thing. Yes, as I have said, the Prime Minister, with his leadership under increasing threat, was dragged kicking and screaming to increase the government's defence pay offer from 1.5 per cent—a real cut—to 2.0 per cent, an increase. But the government did not do it because they believed it was the right thing to do; they did it to save Mr Abbott's leadership. But this bill ensures that, if inflation moves above this belated pay increase, the ADF will not be worse off.

A future Labor government will undertake a full review of the process for the determination of ADF pay to ensure that it is effective and transparent and properly takes into account the unique nature of military service. Some history here is important. After promising not to cut defence funding before the election, the coalition government cut ADF pay at the first opportunity. In 2012 the Prime Minister told the RSL National Conference:

A "fair go" is the least a grateful nation can offer to serving and former military personnel.

A fair go is not cutting the ADF's pay. A fair go is not cutting ADF Christmas leave and other allowances.

In October last year, reports began to emerge that the government was offering an unfair and below-inflation increase of 1.5 per cent a year across the three-year agreement. This pay cut came into force in November, just before Christmas. This disgraceful deal was explained away by the Prime Minister as a way to drive down the pay and conditions of all Commonwealth public servants. That is right: this offer not only ignored the unique nature of military service but was a designed political strategy to attack all public servants using our military personnel as a battering ram.

ADF personnel have a special place in our society, but, unlike other workers, they cannot bargain, speak out or strike for better pay. That is a fundamentally different place from that of other workers in Australia. As the member for Fisher rightly pointed out when he criticised the Prime Minister's pay decision: 'ADF personnel are not your typical public servants.' Our service men and women undertake unique, demanding and often dangerous work on behalf of all Australians. They put their lives on the line with dedication and courage to ensure Australia is safe. Right now we have ADF personnel deployed overseas supporting international efforts against Daesh in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan. We also have them working on the high seas against drug traffickers. The ADF has been working tirelessly, supporting Australians affected by the recent natural disasters in Queensland and the Northern Territory. And they are doing the same today, supporting our friends in Vanuatu. This is why we have seen such a community backlash at the government for cutting the pay of our ADF personnel.

Australians instinctively respect and understand the ADF's contribution to our society. That is why it has not just been Labor that has been outraged by the Prime Minister's decision. Senator Lambie has been extremely vocal in her calls for the Prime Minister to pay the ADF more, and it is her bill that we debate today. Other crossbenchers have done the same. But this is an issue on which the community has also made its voice heard. The RSL and the Defence Force Welfare Association have pushed hard against this pay cut. And so have ADF families; they, more than anyone else, know how shameful this decision was.

I was proud to be able to receive a petition from Tony Dagger, whose son is in the army. Mr Dagger's petition called for a fair pay deal for ADF personnel and, in less than two months, it received more than 60,000 signatures.

But, as we have seen, with policy backflip after policy backflip, this Prime Minister only acts when his own job is at risk. He did not listen to the opposition leader when he wrote to him twice before the end of last year asking the Prime Minister to reconsider his unfair offer. He did not listen to opposition members and senators when they called on him to reverse the decision. He certainly did not listen to the minor parties. He did not listen to Senator Lambie. He did not listen to Mr Tony Dagger and his 60-thousand-strong petition. He did not listen to the soldier who said that the deal was 'essentially a kick in the teeth to every soldier, airman and sailor'. He did not listen to the RSL. He did not listen to the Defence Force Welfare Association when they told him:

The feeling within the Australian Defence Force … is as negative as I’ve ever seen it.

All of these groups and people pressured the Prime Minister over the unfair pay deal. They all told him this pay cut was the wrong captain's pick to make. But make no mistake: the only reason Tony Abbott backflipped on ADF pay was to save his own job. He was not interested in how his decision affected ADF personnel; he was only interested in his own job.

The government's new deal is an improvement. At two per cent, it is above the current inflation rate. The bill does not stop the government offering above-inflation pay deals. As I have said previously, this bill provides for a floor so that ADF personnel know they will not again get a below-inflation pay deal.

This bill should not be necessary but, because of the meanness and the unfairness of this government, it is. I urge all senators to support it.