Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Again, there's the question of the cost of living. Let's look at what the impact is for so many people right at the moment. At the inquiry into the most recent industrial relations bill, we heard from Peter Richards, a 42-year-old Simplot worker from Devonport, who is a casual forklift driver. To his credit, he served in East Timor with the Army back in 1999 to 2000. Peter said:

The cost of living has gone through the roof. Everyday necessities—it's the difference between buying frozen vegetables or having fresh vegetables … I currently walk most places because the cost of fuel has gone through the roof, and I get a lift to and from work with my fellow workmates.

Paul Jeffares also talked about the cost of living and the pressures of being a working person in Australia at the moment under the previous government's legislation:

I work at CUB, Carlton & United Breweries, here in Melbourne, as a shift electrician. I've been there 30 years.

He was told by a company by the name of Catalyst, who operate as the recruitment arm of Programmed, that with his wages and conditions he had one choice: firstly, to be sacked, or, secondly, to agree to a 65 per cent wage decrease if he wanted to work. He said:

When your wages and conditions are reduced by 65 per cent, your whole life changes; your world crumbles; you just fall apart—just like that.

He said, about the pressures on him and his workers, that after almost a year of fighting to get their wages and conditions back on keel they eventually got there, with no help from the legislation. He went on to say that this can absolutely still happen to thousands of workers right Australia.

Heather Macardy, a primary school teacher, talked about the problems she has had over 18 months of negotiations in the existing multi-employer stream, not having the capacity to bring that dispute to a head, and the effects on her and her colleagues. She said:

We need the negotiation process to hurry up. It's too slow—it's far too slow.

…   …   …   

We have no power … This legislation is a way to change things and make things better for employees.

Then we go to the academics and the reports that have talked about multi-employer bargaining. It really is a question about whether we want a race to the bottom, which has happened for the last 10 years, or whether we want a race to the top, based on quality economic output. That's what happens when you start making the system work for working people—for fellow Australians in this country. A 2019 OECD report said that to improve employment and wage distribution multi-employer bargaining is critical; it leads to higher employment, lower unemployment, a better integration of vulnerable groups and less wage inequality. Addressing gender inequality, a 2020 OECD report found that multi-employer arrangements are 'necessary to negotiate targeted raises in female dominated and low-paid sectors'.

Of course, in countries such as Austria, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Japan multi-employer bargaining is an essential part of their macroeconomic policy. It gives the capacity for skills, training and investment. It's where people come together and work out how they can get results. And they come together across industries. What a great idea! They can turn around and say, 'We as a group can actually invest in skills, training and capacity across our industry.' They also get smaller employers and medium-sized employers, who may not have the resources to do it on their own, coming together. At a recent Senate inquiry, we heard numerous examples from small and medium-sized employers about how it would work for them.

Then, of course, you've got the vanguard of people like Alan Joyce. In his material world he says: 'Twenty-one external companies and 17 owned subsidiaries are all okay. That's okay; wages go down.' That's not multi-employer bargaining, when you set up dodgy companies.

Then you have the pearler—really, the home goal—when Senator Birmingham says:

… those are the things that our government managed to achieve, with strong economic growth in our last year in office, with unemployment down to 50-year lows, creating the conditions for economic growth to help to drive productive wages growth.

Well, that is a lie. (Time expired)