Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to respond. In supporting these amendments, the Greens are very serious. In contrast to the accusation of Senator Cameron that the Greens are not serious about the issue of fair work, the Greens are incredibly serious about the issue of fair work. We see these two lots of amendments as the beginning. They are two areas very critical to ensuring that we can get genuinely fair work conditions into our labour force as opposed to what is being proposed by the government, which is going to be making work unfairer.

I also wish to correct the record on the issue of consultation. The Greens have been open to consultation on these amendments. The amendments have been out there. This debate on the Fair Work Amendment Bill has been going for many months now. I have had a number of conversations with Senator Cameron about the existence of these amendments, and my colleague in the other place, Adam Bandt, who is our Greens industrial relations spokesperson, has taken carriage of our position on these amendments. These amendments have been out there. We have been open to discussion and negotiation. If the Labor Party had really been interested in discussing these amendments with us, I am sure those discussions would have occurred.

The other issues which have been raised which are required to improve the fairness of work for employees, such as superannuation are issues that we will be very pleased to continue to work on with anyone in this place who wants to—whether it is Labor, the government or the crossbench—because they are critical issues of importance in getting the balance right and getting working conditions that make people feel they are in control of their lives, that they can go off to work and know their work place is going to be fair and that they are going to be treated well and that they will have some job security to make some financial investments into the future.

In relation to the issue of secure employment, no, not all casual workers want to become permanent workers and our amendments do not say that that is the case. We do not want to see all casuals become permanent employees. That is not the case. Our amendments are such that, where we have people who are on rolling contracts and casual contracts for years at a time—whether they are childcare workers, retail workers or scientists—they would have the support of legislation to say, 'This is unfair,' and to be able to bring a case to their employer. They would have the support to remove the stigma that currently exists about taking that case to their employer. Then there would be the Fair Work Ombudsman as the umpire, able to give an objective assessment that balances the needs of that employee to have permanent, secure employment and the needs of the employer. That is exactly the sort of role that Fair Work Australia is set up to play—making those fair arbitrations. We think that this is one area where it would be very appropriate for Fair Work Australia to be involved so that we can get more fairness and the security which so many employees in Australia today are desperately requiring.