Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I don't actually accept the premise of the proposition that Senator Ayres has put. I did speak in response to his previous statement and question around the thresholds for the action to be regarded as obstructive—for that to be a ground for deregistration under the bill—and that goes to all of the cases on which he's advanced his argument, whether it's in relation to asbestos, whether it's in relation to a social campaign such as the green bans campaign or whether it's in relation to public health. I indicated that the action must have done one of two things: either prevented, hindered or interfered with the activities of an employer or relevant public service; or had a substantial adverse effect on the safety, health or welfare of the community.

I also reminded the chamber—and Senator Ayres, conveniently, chose to ignore this—that the obstructive industrial action ground is an existing ground for deregistration under the current registered organisations act. This government didn't legislate the current registered organisations act; it was legislated by those opposite. So, as I said previously, to the extent that they have an issue with this ground for deregistration, they've got a problem with their own legislation, which has stood on the books for over a decade. I would note—now in the absence of Senator Ayres—that there hasn't been a single application made under this ground which reflects the appropriately significant threshold required. That's despite the fact that both the minister and a person interested, such as an employer, have had the power to make an application for all of that time.

Whilst those opposite might like to assert otherwise, the fact is that with the additional safeguards being introduced in this bill, and with the amendments that we have moved and we are speaking to this afternoon, there will actually be a higher threshold before the court can make an order than is currently the case under the registered organisations act. To be clear, those additional safeguards include a requirement for the commissioner to satisfy the court that it would not be unjust to cancel the registration, taking into account:

(i) the nature of the matters …

(ii) the action … taken—

in relation to the matters—

(iii) the best interests of the members—

and—

(iv) any other matters—

including the public health objectives of such action, to go specifically to those health issues that Senator Ayres raised. And the court is prohibited from making the order unless it is satisfied that, having regard to the gravity of the matters constituting the ground, disqualification would not be unjust.

I also remind the chamber that only the commissioner will have standing to bring an application. So in relation to these amendments, to be very clear, only the regulator can make applications to the court to disqualify or to deregister—not the minister, not the government, not an employer, not any other person. And only the court can make orders to disqualify or to deregister.

Senator Ayres also raised questions in relation to the rights and powers of registered organisations. I want to remind the chamber that, as the case has been made by the Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations in the other place, the bill doesn't remove any powers that the unions currently have under the Fair Work Act or the Fair Work Act (Registered Organisations) Act, nor does it stop them from exercising their rights under the law. The bill does nothing to diminish the right to form a union or to join a union. It doesn't limit the legal rights of unions to organise, to bargain, to take protected industrial action, to represent their members, to investigate safety or underpayment issues or to exercise rights of entry. The performance of these functions by unions is, as acknowledged by the government—in fact, as acknowledged by me in my summing-up speech last night on behalf of the government and in remarks I have made today—a vital element of our industrial relations framework and that will remain the case. What the bill does ensure though, quite simply, is that unions, registered organisations and their officers abide by the law and act in the best interests of their members.

Claiming that this bill will stop unions from being able to do their jobs is absolutely misleading. It is a myth that those opposite have been trying to perpetuate in relation to the legislation, but the legislation is clear on the face of it: it does not diminish anyone's right to form a union or join a union to engage in all of those activities that I listed.