Mrs DE-ANNE KELLY —My question without notice is to the Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business. Can the minister advise the House of the significance of the junior rates in preserving jobs? What has been the reaction to the government's announcement on junior rates?

Mr REITH (Workplace Relations and Small Business) —I thank the member for Dawson for her question and I also congratulate her on her contribution this morning in the debate. Employers around the country will be saying, as they have already started to ring my office, that this is a great decision for small business and it is a great decision for those employers who want to give young people a job. When you think that there has been a battle for six years to preserve the jobs of young people and to correct the mistakes put in place by the previous Labor government, then obviously from the employers' side they are very pleased with the outcome. Of course, the unions have a different view. It was only last year, for example, that we saw the headline in the Melbourne Age on 9 September: `We will scrap junior wage rates declares Beazley.' In fact, I remember that the Leader of the Opposition went to the shoppies union and declared his undying support for the shoppies union and its campaign.

So it is no wonder that people like Joe de Bruyn have said what they have said on radio this morning. Joe de Bruyn is no left wing extremist. He is a respected right wing trade union leader who has a real interest in this subject. This is what Joe de Bruyn said this morning on AM:

Well we are very disappointed because we feel we have been left high and dry by this deal that has been done.

He went on to say something else, which goes to the heart of Labor's attitude dealing with its own constituency:

I suppose it just goes to show that you cannot rely upon the Labor Party to represent your point of view in parliament because on this occasion clearly they knew they were going down a different path and they deliberately failed to consult us about it.

Why did they deliberately fail to consult the trade unions? Because it was a huge backflip for you to abandon the position that you had. I would have to say that I was on tenterhooks all night. Do you know why? I knew the phone calls were coming in from the ACTU. The one thing I will give you is that at least last night you did not, as you usually do, respond and do the bidding of the ACTU. That I give you credit for.

Mr SPEAKER —The Leader of the House! I understand the passion that sometimes runs in the House but there is an obligation under standing orders for comments to be directed through the chair and, in that context, the constant use of the word `you' is inappropriate.

Mr REITH —The shadow minister was right to apologise to the trade unions, as he did in the debate this morning. The reason he did so is that it is a very difficult decision for the Labor Party to abandon a policy they have had for six years and do the right thing. It is a very sensible outcome for young people. But this is where the unions will get into you: it is not just that you have abandoned the policy, it is not just that you have reversed the policy you have had for six years; it is the fact that you have agreed publicly to set up a better regime for the incorporation of junior rates into awards which currently do not have them. That is a sensible decision. It is the right decision. It means that we have not just corrected the mistakes of the past but we have put in a better policy decision. The reaction around the country clearly will be that this gives young people a chance of a job. That is the right reaction and that is why it is such a good result.