Mr CREAN (Leader of the Opposition) (3:26 PM) —Mr Speaker, the Workplace Relations Amendment (Emergency Services) Bill 2002 sends a very strong signal to all Australians, and that is that community service of whatever kind is highly valued by this parliament. In recent years, with greater demands on people's time due to changes in the way we work, volunteerism of all kinds has been put under increasing pressure. We have to find ways to assist people to build stronger communities through public service, especially when it comes to battling flood, fire and other natural and man-made disasters.

With the summer bushfire season approaching, we know that we will be facing possibly one of our most difficult fire seasons ever. With the dry and dusty conditions across much of the east coast, our emergency volunteers are waiting, ready for the worst that nature can do. Our brave volunteer firefighters will once again be out in force saving lives and properties. They of course deserve our admiration but, just as importantly, they deserve our support. Serving the community by battling fire and flood and responding to tragedy is the epitome of what it means to be an Australian. We have seen this displayed magnificently in Bali, where volunteers instinctively turned out to help in any way that they could. It goes without saying that people do not put their lives at risk for personal gain—and they should not have to risk their jobs to do so.

I ask the government to put politics aside and support Labor's bill on this important occasion, because our bill contains important protections for people who give selflessly and in a dedicated fashion. Our bill amends the Workplace Relations Act 1996 to provide employment protection to employees who take part in emergency operations as members of an emergency services organisation. If an employee is absent from work while battling an emergency as part of an emergency services organisation, they will have a specific ground for an unlawful termination action. In other words, that person would be protected from being sacked unfairly because she or he was away from work attending to an emergency.

Under this bill, powers will also be given to the Federal Court to guard emergency services volunteers against victimisation. In addition, the bill restores the power of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission to make award provisions granting emergency services volunteers paid leave. These powers and existing award leave provisions were stripped away by the government with its 1996 industrial legislation. People who help their communities were denied previous protections. We want to put them back.

Most employers will support staff who volunteer to help their communities, but we cannot assume all employers will do the right thing—and that is also why this bill is called for. It is designed to complement laws that carry out similar functions for workers covered by the laws of New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania and the ACT. This bill will make sure that federal award employees have the same level of protection as their counterparts working under state and territory laws. State based emergency services organisations have been consulted. They welcome this measure and believe it will give volunteers and potential volunteers confidence that their jobs will be protected. Cases of victimisation and sacking of volunteers are rare, but this bill provides a backstop. All members of this House would hold our emergency services volunteers in the very highest regard.

Earlier this year the federal government joined with the government of New South Wales to ensure ex-gratia payments were made to volunteer firefighters who fought in the Christmas 2001 bushfires. It is that same spirit of bipartisanship that we seek again today in appreciation of our emergency services volunteers. I call on the government to support this very important bill as the danger period approaches again.

Bill read a first time.

The SPEAKER —In accordance with standing order 104A, the second reading will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.