Ruth Webber (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Minchin, Minister representing the Prime Minister. Does the minister agree with the decision of the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations to maintain protections for owner-drivers in New South Wales and Victoria under the proposed independent contractors legislation? Doesn’t this decision recognise that this group is vulnerable to exploitation from unscrupulous employers? Or does the minister share the concerns of Senator Joyce that the bill will encourage more employers to push employees onto contracts, undercutting their entitlements and potentially undermining the income tax system? Is the position announced by Minister Andrews on 3 May 2006 the government’s final position or is it subject to further internal debate? When will the government resolve its internal divisions and present this bill?

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When the government went to the last election it received a very strong mandate for a number of things, and one of those things was to have separate legislation governing independent contractors. We do want to protect and enhance the freedom of contract and encourage independent contracting as a legitimate form of work. We do believe that has a vital place in Australia’s 21st century industrial relations. As part of that, and as part of the mandate which we have and the policy we intend to introduce, we do want to remove barriers imposed by state legislation, reduce inconsistencies between the states and reduce the compliance costs for all businesses. That is what this bill is very clearly aimed to do.

We have made clear a couple of things which I know would be of concern to the Labor Party but are important to point out. The bill will not override deeming provisions or other state legislation that protects outworkers in the textile, clothing and footwear industry, nor will it override existing legislation in New South Wales and Victoria which provides protection for owner-drivers in the road transport industry.

This situation will involve a review of current regulatory arrangements for owner-drivers next year, with a view to making the arrangements more consistent on a national basis. We are preserving the position in relation to owner-drivers in New South Wales and Victoria, but it is a matter that will be reviewed over the course of the next year to see what the position really is and whether there should be any further change to this situation. This is a very strong commitment of the coalition to protect the proper place of independent contractors from the ravages of state Labor governments.

We know that the trade union movement regards independent contractors as anathema and as a threat to their capacity to recruit people to their cause. They do not like the idea of people actually being self-employed. They want everybody to be in a sort of master-servant relationship. That may be appropriate for many in the community—we know not everybody wants to be an independent contractor. But we believe very strongly that people should have the freedom, appropriately, to be independent contractors, to work for themselves.

I think this is where the Labor Party has really missed the boat. Many commentators from the Labor side have made the point that one of the reasons the Labor Party has been in opposition for some 10 years and is still struggling is that it has not recognised the aspirations of a whole new generation of working Australians who do want to work for themselves, who do want to set up their own businesses, who do want to be independent contractors and who do not want to be bullied and stampeded by trade unions into some other form of relationship.

Ruth Webber (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Given the minister’s acknowledgment that the owner-driver protections will be reviewed in 2007, will the minister now give a guarantee that those protections will not be watered down in the future? Given that the government has recognised that owner-drivers are vulnerable to exploitation, why has it left the door open to scrap these protections?

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I cannot say anymore than I have. The state protections will continue to operate under the new law, and the government will review the state protections with a view to achieving nationwide consistency in relation to the way owner-drivers are treated under legislation. There will be a public consultation process that will commence next year, and I invite the Labor Party to participate in that. But we stand by our strong commitment to protect independent contractors from the bullying of the trade union movement.