John Hogg (Queensland, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Abetz, the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. Is the minister aware of a recent report by Relationships Forum Australia titled An unexpected tragedy, which shows that, amongst developed countries, Australia has the second-highest proportion of the workforce—22 per cent—working 50 hours a week or more? Aren’t we behind only Japan in working longer hours? Can the minister also confirm that Australia has the second-highest proportion of its workforce—30 per cent—regularly working on weekends? Doesn’t the report highlight the negative impact that these long working hours and weekend work is having on Australian families, with parents concerned that they do not have the time they need to spend with their family? Hasn’t the government’s industrial relations legislation only put more pressure on parents to work longer hours and on weekends, leaving them less time with their children?

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Hogg for the question, because what it highlights is that there is plenty of employment going around with an historic low unemployment level of 4.6 per cent. With 30-year low—generational low—unemployment you would anticipate that people were only just filling in their day’s work, but in fact they are doing more than that. If we accept the honourable senator’s figures, what they show is that with an unemployment rate of 4.6 per cent people are working very long hours as well because of the huge amount of work that is being generated in the Australian economy.

That is juxtaposed to that which happened under the former Labor government, when untold human misery was occasioned to the families of this country when one million of our fellow Australians were on the scrapheap of unemployment. That is when mums and dads had problems making ends meet. They could not pay the mortgages. Why? There was unemployment and high inflation. Not so at the moment. There is now low inflation and ever-increasing wages above and beyond the inflation rate.

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What about the pressure on families?

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Evans foolishly interjects and says, ‘What about pressure on families?’ That is exactly the sort of pressure that we committed ourselves to taking away from the Australian people—the high unemployment rate and the high mortgage rates. It is up to people to decide, within certain limitations, as to the hours that they work. Many families are in fact aspirational. Mums and dads are willing to work those extra hours so they can afford the private health insurance that certain people would seek to abolish the government support on, or to send their children to a private school and exercise real choice and make a real investment in their kids’ future. But under the mob opposite what you would have today, courtesy of Senator Hogg’s question, is a commitment to take Australia back to high unemployment, lower wage growth and high inflation. If given a choice as a parent, would you want high unemployment and high interest rates or the capacity to earn a bit more for your family in a low inflationary environment? I know what choice I would take for the sake of my kids and for the future of my family.

This is a very foolish question, if I might say. I think Senator Hogg knows better but, unfortunately, the brains trust of the question time committee gave him the question to ask, so he did. The point is very clear: the Labor Party are complaining about the amount of work that is available in the economy and the capacity for aspirational families to earn more, buy a better house, go on another holiday if they want to or invest in their children’s education. We as a government are pleased with the sorts of choices that Australian families are getting. That choice is a lot better than the no choice they suffered under Labor—no employment prospects and high interest rates.

John Hogg (Queensland, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Is the minister aware of ABS figures which show that full-time employees work an average of 44 hours per week? Is the minister concerned about the impact excessive working hours are having on families? Why did the government, through the provisions of Work Choices, give employers even more power to demand longer working hours of their employees?

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What I do know is that out of the 200,000-plus jobs that have been created since Work Choices, 87 per cent have been full time. In the uncertainty of the work environment that existed under Labor, there was a high rate of casualisation of the workforce, and that is what was causing untold misery to the men, women and families of this country. This high rate of full-time employment is providing financial security. If there is one social statistic about families and family misery it is financial security, and that is what we are offering.

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

Mr President, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.