Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

Yet again, Senator Cameron, I think I am going to wildly disappoint you when I say that I am going to disagree with basically what you have said. I do think it is disappointing that you resort to smearing people and going off on the tangent of saying that the volunteers and this side of the chamber hate unions, because you know that is not the case. You know that the CFA, and in particular the volunteers, have worked alongside the paid firefighters for decades now. They take no issue at all with the pay that the paid firefighters are going to receive—no issue at all. But they do take issue with the fact that—as they have articulated—there are some clauses in this agreement which would seek to bring the volunteers into the agreement. That is what they take issue with. They do not hate unions at all, but they do not like the fact that under this agreement a union is trying to bring them into this agreement.

Senator Cameron, you asked the Senate—and I am certainly not going to verbal you, because you would be the first to jump up and tell me that I am—if it is unprecedented to give standing to volunteers in terms of being able to make a submission to the commission. The answer to that question, as I think you know, is no. Given your extensive history of being active within the industrial relations sphere, you would know that any person can seek leave to make submissions to the Fair Work Commission. You would also know that, in addition, the Commonwealth and state and territory ministers can make submissions, as of right, before a full bench of the Fair Work Commission and where it is in the public interest to do so. Therefore, you would also know that the Fair Work Act also enables other third parties to apply to the Fair Work Commission for orders to suspend or to terminate protected industrial action in certain circumstances. What this amendment does is merely an extension of the ability of the Fair Work Commission to hear from a broad range of interested parties.

Clearly you do have an issue with volunteers being able to articulate their concerns, but on this side of the chamber we believe that we must give volunteers the ability to make submissions in order to protect volunteers from parties seeking to use the Fair Work Act to limit the management of firefighting and state emergency service organisations. In relation to the claim that basically any volunteer organisation will be able to make a submission and this will just tie up the commission's time et cetera, the bill does not give volunteers an unfettered right to interfere in the employer-employee relationship.