Mrs CROSIO (12:59 PM) —The Employee Protection (Employee Entitlements Guarantee) Bill 2004 is a bill to provide for the establishment and administration of a scheme to guarantee the payment of wages and other accrued liabilities owed to employees in the event of employer insolvency and for related purposes. This is a bill which I have introduced to this parliament in various amended forms. Each time, the bill has been ignored and allowed to lapse by the Howard government. In 1998, I wrongly assumed that this bill would in some way prod the conscience of the Howard government and we would then have legislation passed to protect the entitlements of Australian workers. This government has had untold opportunities to fix this problem with adequate legislation.

The majority of Australian employers do the right thing by their workers. They are diligent in putting in place mechanisms to meet their liability for accrued employee entitlements in the event of insolvency. But there are many who still regard employee entitlements as interest free loans to be used as they want; they are not. They are legal entitlements that most workers rely on to plan for their retirement. Many of them have spent their entire working life accruing benefits so that in their later years they can enjoy a worry-free lifestyle with least some degree of financial security.

What I am proposing in this bill is not some pie in the sky. It is a genuine attempt to have in Australia protection provided to workers in cases of insolvency. Unfortunately, this government's idea of protection is to cap entitlements at $20,000, and this has been repeated in the latest tender documents for GEERS. I regard the payment of $20,000 to a worker who is entitled to some $70,000 as outright theft. The protection of employees' entitlements is important and complex and deserves closer consideration than the superficial approach the government has put in place. There have been too many years of inactivity by this government, and this has created serious concerns for workers in relation to job security and the protection of their entitlements. The workers of National Textiles are the only workers in Australia to have received their full entitlements—and we all remember them.

The bill which I present today will guarantee all workers their full entitlements. It is a fair bill, it is a just bill and it is an affordable bill. It is a bill which the Howard government should embrace as the best possible step to ensure the entitlements of all Australian workers. The workers of Australia want no trade-offs. Tragically, for those workers, we have in this government a mindset that is to look after the big end of town. This government's approach has left Australian workers with no option but to seek to achieve proper protection for their rightful entitlements—and in several cases through industrial action. Rather than debate my bill, the Howard government has now swept it under the carpet on seven occasions. I believe the government's failure to allow the parliament to consider this bill clearly demonstrates its lack of commitment to solving a serious economic and social problem.

It will take a Latham Labor government to take the necessary action, and I can assure members on the government benches that this will happen in the next election. I look forward to that day and so do the workers of Australia. I am very proud of the fact that our national conference some two years back decided that this would be a part of the Labor platform. I say to the workers of Australia: this bill will protect your rights, the government's inactivity will no longer be overlooked and after the next election, when we take power and sit on the government benches, this will be one of the first items we introduce to protect the workers of Australia.

Bill read a first time.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER (Hon. I.R. Causley)—In accordance with sessional order 104A, the second reading will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.