Chris Ketter (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the government's disgraceful industrial relations policies and to make a comment that I am proud to be a senator for Queensland and I am proud to be a Labor senator. I am also very proud of the fact that I am a former official of one of Australia's largest trade unions—in fact, it is the largest trade union—the shop assistants' union. As a former official of that union I am particularly concerned about the impact the government's industrial relations policies are going to have on the group of workers that I have spent much of my working life defending. I am concerned that this government is seeking to Americanise the industrial relations system which Labor has built up over so many years.

Whilst the government is looking to undermine workers, Labor is looking to the future. I will talk more about that later. Labor believes that research and innovation are at the heart of Australia's future prosperity and will create the jobs of the future. I will outline Labor's plan for the future later on. There is significant uncertainty about what the coalition will be taking to the next election in respect of its industrial relations agenda, but we know that the government is coming after penalty rates for low paid shop assistants and hospitality workers. The draft report from the Productivity Commission has flagged that quite clearly. Unfortunately it has become all too common for this government to target the most vulnerable people in our society. I would ask: what is it with this government's obsession with dismantling Australia's industrial relations system?

We would know from history that there have been two prime ministers who have sought to either dismantle or fundamentally alter our industrial relations system and who have paid the price at the ballot box. Following the disastrous Work Choices policies, former Prime Minister John Howard lost his seat. And we know that in 1929 Stanley Bruce, who sought to dismantle the Commonwealth arbitration system, also paid the ultimate political price in losing his seat. The lessons of history are there—but no, we have a government which seems obsessed with taking on low paid workers and removing entitlements.

The Productivity Commission inquiry into Australia's workplace relations system which was ordered by the Treasurer proposes a two-tier penalty rate system which would cut the penalty rates of every worker in the hospitality, retail and entertainment sectors of our economy. Labor will never support a two-tier penalty rate system that would leave millions of Australian workers worse off. I cannot pretend to understand how the Productivity Commission could come to the conclusion that one group of people is worthy of penalty rates and another group is not. One group of people is entitled to fair compensation for giving up social and family time on the weekend and another group is not. I would consider that to be an un-Australian proposition.

We have seen some different statements from members of the government in this area. We have heard the Minister for Employment, Senator Abetz, saying, 'We have a system that has worked relatively well over many years now, and I don't want to put the parliament in the space of the Fair Work Commission.' That is in contrast to what the Prime Minister said recently in looking at the issue of penalty rates. He said, 'I think there is a case for looking again at this issue of penalty rates.' The Prime Minister then went on to seek, in my view, to unduly pressure the independent umpire, the Fair Work Commission, by saying, 'Let's hope the Fair Work Commission is alert to the need to maximise employment and maximise economic activity.' We see this government looking to put pressure on the independent umpire to encourage them to inhibit the growth of minimum wages and to minimise conditions of employment in order to allegedly maximise employment and economic activity. Labor does agree that the Fair Work Commission is the appropriate body to consider all of these matters and that the Prime Minister should leave it to do just that: to conduct its business as the independent umpire.

Mr Abbott has also had the audacity to suggest that Labor, in pursuing its defence of penalty rates, is trying to restore the 'church Sunday'. In fact, it was also the Prime Minister who said, 'If you don't want to work on a weekend, don't work on a weekend.' I find those comments somewhat insulting on a number of different levels, because they speak to an attitude which suggests that those who might consider Sunday to be a special day of the week and those who give up the opportunity for social and family time or religious observances are less worthy of respect. It is particularly interesting given the Prime Minister's own views on these types of issues that he has expressed on previous occasions. Let us never forget that it was the Prime Minister who said that Work Choices was 'good for wages, it was good for jobs and it was good for workers.' So we know where this government is coming from when it comes to industrial relations.

We believe that penalty rates are so important for many Australians. Low-paid workers in particular rely heavily on penalty rates. They have been a feature of our industrial relations system for over 100 years, having been established just after Federation in 1909, in the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission.

Despite the comments that I have already ascribed to the Prime Minister, even he has conceded the importance of penalty rates in previous comments. He said, 'Penalty rates are very important to people. If you're a low-paid worker, one of the things that you often love to do is work late nights and weekends, because it does substantially increase your income.' So this Prime Minister is quite well aware of the impact of reducing penalty rates and what it would do to low-paid workers. From my own experience as a former official of the SDA, I understand that retail employees are amongst the lowest paid in our community. The average shop assistant on the award wage receives about $19 an hour, and I am in awe of those people who are trying to support a family and meet the cost of living while receiving that level of pay. When you are in that situation, penalty rates are particularly important.

We know that the Australian people also generally view penalty rates as being important. Research was conducted by EMC recently where people felt that those who are required to work outside of normal hours, like night shifts, weekends or public holidays, should receive a higher rate of pay. The research is very informative, and it found that a large majority of people—81 per cent—felt that workers should receive higher rates of pay for working outside of ordinary hours. I also make the point that 73 per cent of Liberal-National voters agreed with the proposition that people who work outside normal hours should receive higher rates of pay.

This is an important issue. Governments who attack the industrial relations system, who seek to remove conditions of employment, do so at their peril. I would call on the government to change this disastrous course.