Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that the Fair Work Act 2009 passed the Parliament with the support of the Honourable Bill Shorten, MP, and that the Fair Work Bill 2008 was circulated under the name of the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, the Honourable Julia Gillard, MP;

(b) notes that Mr Shorten enhanced some of the penalties for breaching the Fair Work laws when he was Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations;

(c) calls on all employers, employees and other groups to abide by the Fair Work laws; and

(d) condemns any expressions for support of breaching the Fair Work laws by employers, employees or other groups.

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Abetz's motion seeks to condemn all employers, employees and other groups. The trouble with Senator Abetz and his motion is that he sees everything in a binary sense—in black and white. I ask Senator Abetz: would he condemn a worker for walking off a worksite because she believes her life is in danger from unsafe practices? Would Senator Abetz condemn a miner getting himself to the surface from three kilometres underground if he thought a mine was going to collapse? Of course people should not break laws; if laws are broken, there must be consequences. But to condemn everyone in every situation is too simplistic. Labor does not share Senator Abetz's black-and-white view of the world of work, especially when workplace fatalities continue to occur all too regularly. One death is one too many, and if that death is avoided by somebody walking off the job then I hope Senator Abetz would agree that that was the right call.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a one-minute statement.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This motion seeks to support the fair work laws; invite people to note how the fair work laws came into being; call on all employers, employees and other groups to abide by the fair work laws; and to condemn any expression of support for breaching the fair work laws. If what the senator from the Labor Party asserts is correct, she is, in fact, condemning Labor's laws. As she would well know, the law does allow people to walk off the job in circumstances where a life is in danger, and to suggest otherwise is completely wrong and false, and somebody from the Australian Labor Party should know a lot better than that.

This is another motion inviting the Senate to support the rule of law—in this case, specifically, Labor's own laws in the fair work laws. It will be interesting to see if they support their own laws.

Question agreed to.