Steve Fielding (Victoria, Family First Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Senator Abetz. Why is it that, under Work Choices, more than eight million Australian workers are not guaranteed another day off or a cent extra for working on public holidays such as Anzac Day when their agreements and contracts expire?

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

I have been aware of Senator Fielding’s longstanding interest in issues relating to Work Choices. Indeed, he has circulated to the media his second reading speech on a particular bill that he has introduced on a similar topic. Senator Fielding is on record as saying, ‘What workers want is security.’ He is dead right. Today, 263,700 more Australians have a job. That is what I call security. Senator Fielding said that workers want to feel secure in their jobs. Guess what? Of the 263,700 more jobs, 87 per cent are full time. That is what I call security. This at the same time as the Leader of the Opposition saying, ‘We wouldn’t really mind the casualisation of the labour force.’ We said that we wanted full-time jobs, and that is what we have delivered.

What else has Senator Fielding said? He said, ‘They want to know they can bring home a decent wage.’ They are. Wages are 19.8 per cent higher in real terms since the Howard government came into being and 1.5 per cent higher in real terms since the introduction of Work Choices. I have also noted a comment by Senator Fielding that Australian workers do not accept that working at 2 am is the same as working at 2 pm. I have had experience of doing both as a taxidriver and I fully agree with him. But I can tell the honourable senator that being unemployed at 2 am is just the same as being unemployed at 2 pm, because unemployment stays with you 24 hours a day and puts you and your family under severe financial pressure. Financial pressure is the one social tendency above all others that is indicated in family break-ups. When we have been able to reduce the unemployment rate right down to 4.6 per cent, a generational low, I think the people of Australia will make the judgement that we have delivered social justice in providing more jobs, more full-time jobs, at a higher rate and higher wages, all of which benefit not only the men and women of Australia but also their families. That is why the men and women and families of Australia know that the Howard government is delivering for them, albeit sometimes as a result of taking tough decisions which have met opposition all the way along the track. At the end of the day, the statistics speak for themselves. The workers of Australia are now able to enter flexible negotiations with their employers to determine rates of pay for particular hours and what days they may or may not have off. That is the real guarantee of job security for the future of our fellow Australians.

Steve Fielding (Victoria, Family First Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question, although I am not so sure I want to since the minister never answered the last question. Why is it that, under Work Choices, more than eight million Australian workers are not guaranteed one cent extra for working anti-family hours, such that working at 2 am is treated the same as working at 2 pm, when their agreements and contracts expire?

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

Can I inform the senator that there is a big difference in not getting an answer to a question and not liking the answer that you are given because it does not suit your political purposes. In relation to the working hours that Australians have to work, I have in fact been provided with some very interesting information, and that is that average working hours are now lower under Work Choices. Between April 2006 and February 2007 full-time weekly hours worked averaged 39.8 hours per week compared with 40.3 hours per week over the same period a year earlier. Do you know what that means and why that is? Because under Work Choices employers feel comfortable in employing more people. As a result, they do not have to rely on their workers working longer hours. As a result, we are sharing the wealth around. More people are in jobs and those that have jobs do not have to work as long. (Time expired)