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

My question is to Senator Abetz, the Minister Representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. Minister, I refer you to reports of the Industrial Relations Commission’s decision last month that, under Work Choices, businesses can sack workers if the business is restructuring. The commission ruled that restructuring was a ‘genuine operational reason’ for sacking and that a company did not even have to prove financial difficulty. Minister, how is Melbourne based account manager Michelle Sperac, who was sacked, better off under Work Choices?

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

I think it is always unwise for individual senators to seek to raise specific matters in this forum. I think it is also unwise for the government to respond in relation to those circumstances because, undoubtedly, there will be many issues in dispute between the two parties and, until such time as they are resolved and fully determined, I am not sure that it necessarily assists.

In relation to the general question as to whether or not a person can be dismissed in the face of a company facing difficulties, it nearly seems as though Senator Fielding himself has fallen victim to some of the false claims being made about Work Choices. I forget the exact details now, but literally tens of thousands of workers per month—indeed, per week—separate from their employers in Australia. About 12,000 of those are on an involuntary basis. That was the case before Work Choices. Unless Senator Fielding and those who are opposed to the current laws can make the claim and the point that more people are being dismissed as a result of the current system then, with respect, they cannot make their case.

The mantra of those opposite, as I am sure Senator Fielding will recall, was that, under this new system, there would be mass dismissals and we could expect the unemployment rate to grow. In fact, the exact opposite has occurred. More people are not being dismissed, but more people are being employed—about 360,000 of them, with 97 per cent or thereabouts full time. I would have thought that they were the sort of family-friendly policies that would have been appealing to the likes of Senator Fielding. I invite Senator Fielding to have a look at the industrial relations laws prior to March 2006. In those circumstances, I am sure he will find that the Australian worker today is better off for a whole host of reasons. There are more jobs, there is higher pay and there is less industrial disputation. It really is the trifecta that all Australian families have wanted for a long time, and it has been through the hard work of the Howard government that we have been able to deliver for Australian families in that regard.

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

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I will try to get the minister back on track to the actual question. Minister, given that Minister Hockey has publicly admitted that it was not the intention of the legislation for workers to be able to be sacked if a business is restructuring and that he would change the law if needed, how is the government going to tighten Work Choices to prevent other employers sacking Australian workers?

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

I invite Senator Fielding to enter the real world. Employers do not get out of bed in the morning asking: who can we sack? If Senator Fielding had ever employed anybody in his own enterprise, he would know that the last thing he would want is the dislocation that occurs as a result of somebody leaving his employ. What employers want is long-term employees for the employee’s benefit and, of course, for the benefit of the business. That is what we are finding today with the 360,000 jobs created. Well over 90 per cent of them—I think the figure is about 97 per cent—are in fact full-time jobs because employers want to employ people. They do not go about looking for opportunities to sack people. That is where the Labor mantra that unfortunately Senator Fielding seems to be adopting is so false. (Time expired)