John Watson (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is directed to Senator Wong in her capacity as the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. I refer the minister to pages 29 and 31 of the 10 National Employment Standards released yesterday. Minister, can working families find themselves with no sick leave or annual leave entitlements under Labor’s standards?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is interesting that the opposition seeks to criticise Labor’s National Employment Standards, 10 minimum entitlements being delivered in accordance with the government’s election commitments—double what was delivered under the previous government. We all remember that this is the opposition that, when in government, pushed through the extreme Work Choices legislation on this issue.

I am not sure which page the senator was referring me to, but it is the case that personal/carers leave and compassionate leave are one of the 10 minimum standards. If he is referring to page 29, he will see that annual leave is discussed there. I would refer him to those standards and I would remind the senator and those opposite that in government they pushed through the extreme Work Choices legislation, which contained Australian workplace agreements, which enabled wages and conditions to be stripped away. That was the policy that you argued for at the election. We argued for Forward with Fairness, a policy that is designed to provide both fairness and flexibility in the workplace. We are delivering on that election commitment. We delivered on it with the progress through the Senate of the transition bill. We recall that the opposition was in two minds about whether it was going to oppose that, just as on the budget it is in two minds as to whether it is actually going to put a hole in the surplus in a manner that my colleagues have described.

Now we have the 10 National Employment Standards, again delivering an election commitment made by Labor at the last election. The opposition has to decide whether it wants to oppose Labor implementing its election commitments or whether it is going to come to the task of responsible economic policy on the other side. This is an election commitment being delivered. The National Employment Standards are clearly an election commitment which was discussed prior to the election and, as I outlined yesterday, these national employment standards, unlike the Work Choices legislation, were the subject of detailed consultation with industry and with the community prior to being finalised.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Especially industry? Not with unions?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is interesting—isn’t it?—that Senator Abetz is interjecting again. Yes, Senator Abetz, we actually do engage in consultation. We engaged in consultation with the community, we engaged in consultation with the union movement and we engaged in consultation with various sectors of industry and business. The reality is that these employment standards were informed by those consultations, unlike the Work Choices legislation, which was not.

John Watson (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Is it not a fact that under the coalition’s current workplace relations system workers can cash out a maximum of only two weeks of their annual leave? Will the government guarantee that no worker will be worse off under Labor’s current National Employment Standards?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let us recall that under the Work Choices legislation, certainly as it was originally passed, you did not have a no disadvantage test against the award. What we have are the 10 legislated minimum National Employment Standards as well as a commitment to a modernised award system. As I said in answer to Senator Fisher, we on this side can guarantee that our system will be balanced and fair and we can guarantee that there is nothing about the operation of Labor’s workplace relations system which will disadvantage employees. As has previously been said by the Deputy Prime Minister, I can guarantee that every employee in the federal system will be protected by our 10 legislated minimum standards, something that could never ever be delivered and could never be guaranteed under your government.