Mr LINDSAY —My question is addressed to the Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business. Minister, have there been opportunities for Labor state governments to abolish junior wage rates? Have the junior wage rates been abolished in those states? If not, why not?

Mr REITH (Workplace Relations and Small Business) —I thank the honourable member for his question. It is an interesting question because some within the Labor Party would say this is a great article of faith for Labor MPs—that this is a matter going to the core of Labor philosophy. So you are entitled to ask: what are the state Labor governments doing? What they are doing is important because they are actually responsible for the issue, unlike a Labor opposition that has no responsibility and therefore, it seems, no sensitivity to the issue.

If you look at New South Wales, for example, they have an anti-age discriminatory provision. They also have an exemption for it, but the minister can remove the exemption by proclamation. In other words, Jeff Shaw, the minister, could at any day remove junior wage rates. Why hasn't he? He has not because he has given an undertaking that he would not do so unless there was a satisfactory alternative. That is a perfectly reasonable position. There is no satisfactory alternative. He is not going into this election saying, `We are going to abolish junior wage rates.' Why would he when there is no alternative?

Queensland is basically in the same sort of situation. They have an exemption. They have a Labor government. Has the Labor government there said, `This question of discrimination is so important that we are going to abolish young people's jobs as a result'? No, they have not—a state Labor government. I compliment two state Labor governments for at least having the commonsense to see that young people will lose their jobs if this measure goes through.

Has there been a search for an alternative? This issue has been around for years. You can go all the way back to 1990, when the Labor minister's council—in other words, the state and federal ministers—discussed the issue, through to 1994. From 1994 to 1997 the Industrial Relations Commission conducted a working party to find an alternative—a non-discriminatory suitable alternative. They found no such alternative. There was no agreement to a practical alternative.

The fact of the matter is that this is a failure of leadership, and the consequences of it are that young people will be Labor's victims as they join the unemployment queues. This is an important issue. We have had a consistent position. I compliment the state premiers. It is about time that the Leader of the Opposition took a cue from some of his state counterparts.