Mr McARTHUR —My question is directed to the Minister for Industrial Relations. Can the minister inform the House of any new statistics on the decline in trade union representation in the work force? What are the implications of the statistics for the future of the trade union movement?

Mr REITH —I thank the member for Corangamite. This is an excellent question and I do appreciate the opportunity to answer it. I must say that, just by chance, someone did draw to my attention certain figures released by the ABS yesterday which do confirm the struggle which many unions face to maintain their relevance to Australian employees.

The percentage of employees belonging to unions dropped by almost two percentage points in the 12 months between August 1995 and August 1996. That does continue a trend which we saw under Labor in the last 10 to 15 years. If you look over the last 10 years, the percentage of employees belonging to unions has dropped from 46 per cent to 31 per cent. In the private sector now, less than one in four employees belong to a union. On these figures, in some industry areas only almost one in 10 belong to a union.

This government has replaced the old union monopoly with a framework in which unions must become genuinely competitive so that only unions which are genuinely representative and accountable to their members will survive. As Jennie George, the President of the ACTU, has admitted, some unions have not adequately serviced their members and unions will need to do a lot better to meet the various demands and needs of their employees. A relevant fact in this is that, as from 1 January, under the government's new Workplace Relations Act, the circumstances and the choice facing Australian employees are now much freer than they ever faced under Labor. In fact, if you are—and many Australians have been—compelled to join a union, you now have a new choice, a new opportunity, and that is that if you do not want to be in a union you do not have to be in a union.

We have provided very simple means for those who are in a union and do not wish to remain in a union: under the new Workplace Relations Act, they merely have to give two weeks written notice to their union so as to comply with the resignation requirements of the new act; and, provided that people also advise their employers of their decision, they can require an employer to desist from making payroll deductions.

Whilst it is very early days—the new act has been in place in that regard only since 1 January—I was rather intrigued by what I call the barbecue test where one person informed me that one enterprising young person working for a major retailer in Melbourne took it upon himself to stand outside the main entrance of this particular establishment and was handing out a pamphlet. The pamphlet read simply: `Would you like a $4 a week pay increase?' Then it followed with advice on how you resign from the shoppies union.

This government believes that if you want to be in a union you are entitled to be in a union, and if you want to be in a union we will protect your right to be in a union; but if you do not want to be in a union we have given you an easy way out, and we will protect that right as well.