Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Minister Watt. The government intends to reform Australia's workplace relations laws to get wages moving. Can you outline for us what the changes are, why they are necessary and what the urgency is?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Grogan, I know you have a very long record in standing up for the interests of workers. It's great to see you've continued that work since you have been here in the Senate.

The Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 2022 delivers on the Albanese government's commitment to a fairer workplace relations system that provides Australians with job security, gender equality and sustainable wage growth. For nearly 10 years wages were kept low by the coalition as a deliberate design feature of their management of the economy. None of us will ever forget that infamous interview with former senator Mathias Cormann where he belled the cat on the economic policy of this government and its desire to keep wages low. In contrast, the Albanese Labor government are taking action to improve workplace conditions, wages and job security by implementing our election commitments and outcomes from the Jobs and Skills Summit, which brought employers, unions and the community together in a way we had never seen under the former government.

The truth is that the current workplace relations system is not working well for workers or for employers and it is not fit to meet our economy's current challenges. In particular, the bargaining system is broken. We've all heard over recent weeks members of the opposition, particularly Senator Cash, say that what we are proposing to do is terrible and will make the sky fall in and have all these kinds of consequences. If we don't make changes to Australia's bargaining system, if we persist with the regime that was in place under the coalition, the one thing I can guarantee is the same outcome—low wages and low productivity—well into the future. The current system, presided over by the coalition, is not delivering the fairness, gender equality or economic growth Australia needs and that Australian workers deserve. The bill aims to tackle insecure work, gender inequality and flatlining wages.

As to why this bill is urgent, Australian workers have waited long enough. They've been waiting a very long time for a decent pay rise and for wages to keep up with and help them with the cost of living. We are going to do something about it. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Grogan, first supplementary?

Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Minister Watt. That was very useful. You referenced the Jobs and Skills Summit, which I was honoured to attend. Since that time we have seen many scare campaigns, which I've been quite surprised about, regarding these proposed laws. Could you please outline for us where the errors are in these scare campaigns?

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm not surprised that Senator Cash is feeling a bit sensitive about scare campaigns, because most of them have come from her. Here are a few facts for Senator Cash. Minister Burke took the National Press Club through this the other day. In case Senator Cash missed it, I'm here to repeat it.

The first scare campaign we have been hearing from the opposition is that this bill will produced coast-to-coast strikes. In actual fact the bill makes industrial action harder, with an additional requirement for mandatory conciliation before industrial action can be taken. Ballots need to be agreed on on an employer-by-employer basis, as per the current rules—

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And don't they react!

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Watt, please resume your seat. I'll wait until there is quiet.

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And don't they react when the first of their scare campaigns gets called out. Do you know what? I have four more to go through. Their second scare campaign is about pattern bargaining. In actual fact the restrictions on taking industrial action when the bargaining representative is engaging in pattern bargaining are already in the Fair Work Act and they are not changing—not a word, not even a comma. In fact, what we're hearing from the opposition is a scare campaign about their own policy, and I have three more. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Grogan, a second supplementary question.

Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister Watt, I wonder if you would be able to step out for us the difference in the workplace laws from previous approaches? I think it may be very beneficial for those in this chamber to hear the detail of that.

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would be delighted, Senator Grogan, to point out how our plans for workplace laws differ from those that we've seen previously, because the contrast between the Albanese Labor government's approach and the coalition's when it comes to workplace laws could not be starker.

On the one hand we have Labor wanting to get wages moving again. On the other hand we have the coalition, for whom low wages was a deliberate design feature of the economy. Under Labor, you have higher productivity for businesses, under the coalition you have lower productivity. Under Labor you have more agreements and a workplace relations law system that encourages more agreements—

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Under the coalition you hear exactly what we're hearing over there, which is more conflict. They are addicted to conflict in the workplace, and they want to hang on to it. We actually want to bring in more agreements between employers and employees.

For the coalition, it is never the right time for a pay rise. For years they told us that low unemployment would deliver pay rises. We now have low unemployment and we're not getting the pay rises going on with it. We saw Senator Birmingham on Insiders yesterday, mumbling and fumbling his way through the answer to a question of how you get wage rises moving. (Time expired)