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Hansard
- Start of Business
- MINISTER FOR EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND TRAINING
- ASBESTOS-RELATED CLAIMS (MANAGEMENT OF COMMONWEALTH LIABILITIES) BILL 2005
- ASBESTOS-RELATED CLAIMS (MANAGEMENT OF COMMONWEALTH LIABILITIES) (CONSEQUENTIAL AND TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS) BILL 2005
- INDIGENOUS EDUCATION (TARGETED ASSISTANCE) AMENDMENT BILL 2005
- MARITIME TRANSPORT SECURITY AMENDMENT BILL 2005
- TAX LAWS AMENDMENT (PERSONAL INCOME TAX REDUCTION) BILL 2005
- PERSONAL EXPLANATIONS
- TAX LAWS AMENDMENT (PERSONAL INCOME TAX REDUCTION) BILL 2005
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QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
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Flagpoles for Schools
(Edwards, Graham, MP, Nelson, Dr Brendan, MP) -
Pacific Nations: Security
(Turnbull, Malcolm, MP, Downer, Alexander, MP) -
Children in Detention
(Beazley, Kim, MP, Howard, John, MP) -
Economy
(Somlyay, Alex, MP, Costello, Peter, MP) -
Immigration
(Ferguson, Laurie, MP, Howard, John, MP) -
Budget 2005-06
(Baker, Mark, MP, Costello, Peter, MP) -
Immigration Detention
(Beazley, Kim, MP, Howard, John, MP) -
Vocational Education and Trainingi
(Vasta, Ross, MP, Howard, John, MP) -
Immigration
(Beazley, Kim, MP, Howard, John, MP) -
Workplace Relations
(Barresi, Phillip, MP, Andrews, Kevin, MP) -
Inspector of Transport Security
(Beazley, Kim, MP, Anderson, John, MP) -
Economy
(Jensen, Dennis, MP, Vaile, Mark, MP) -
Inspector of Transport Security
(Beazley, Kim, MP, Anderson, John, MP) -
Medicare
(Richardson, Kym, MP, Abbott, Tony, MP) -
Inspector of Transport Security
(Beazley, Kim, MP, Anderson, John, MP) -
Domestic Violence
(Scott, Bruce, MP, Ruddock, Philip, MP) -
HIH Insurance
(Andren, Peter, MP, Brough, Mal, MP) -
Superannuation
(Broadbent, Russell, MP, Brough, Mal, MP) -
Defence Equipment
(McClelland, Robert, MP, Downer, Alexander, MP) -
Aged Care
(Markus, Louise, MP, Bishop, Julie, MP)
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Flagpoles for Schools
- MS CHRISTINE JACOBS
- PERSONAL EXPLANATIONS
- QUESTIONS TO THE SPEAKER
- CHAMBER MICROPHONES
- AUDITOR-GENERAL’S REPORTS
- DOCUMENTS
- MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
- PERSONAL EXPLANATIONS
- PRIMARY INDUSTRIES (EXCISE) LEVIES AMENDMENT (RICE) BILL 2005
- HEALTH LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY PHARMACY AUTHORITY) BILL 2005
- COMMITTEES
- TAX LAWS AMENDMENT (PERSONAL INCOME TAX REDUCTION) BILL 2005
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SUPERANNUATION BILL 2005
SUPERANNUATION (CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS) BILL 2005 - ADJOURNMENT
- Adjournment
- NOTICES
- Main Committee
- QUESTIONS IN WRITING
Page: 74
Mr BARRESI (2:30 PM)
—My question is addressed to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. Is the minister aware of recent comments on the social consequences of workplace relations reform? What is the minister’s response to these comments?
Mr ANDREWS (Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service)
—I thank the member for Deakin for his question and his ongoing interest in this subject. I am aware of some recent comments because the Australian Labor Party is once again running a hysterical scare campaign about workplace relations reform, which sounds more and more desperate as each day goes by. Yesterday the Leader of the Opposition was predicting that some sort of iron curtain would fall on workplaces in Australia. According to an AAP report, the Leader of the Opposition told the Labor caucus yesterday about workplace relations reform:
This is about the fundamental underpinnings of our democracy.
… … …
It’s important to remember that when the eastern European system cracked, that wasn’t a product of newspaper editorials, it wasn’t a product of student action, it was a product of trade union action through Solidarity.
How desperate. According to the Leader of the Opposition, workplace relations reform now equals the death of democracy. He has form on this. In 1996, when we were considering the Workplace Relations Act, the Leader of the Opposition predicted that it would lead Australia:
... straight down the American road on industrial relations legislation, straight down the American road on wages justice, and that produces social dislocation more than anything else.
It was equivalent to what Bill Kelty, the then Secretary of the ACTU, was saying at the time. He said:
If they want a fight, if they want a war, then we’ll have the full symphony, the full symphony, all the pieces, all the clashes and all the music.
They were wrong then. There was no war. Democracy continued to flourish. The iron curtain did not come down on workplaces in Australia. It just shows what a hysterical campaign the Leader of the Opposition is running. The reality is that the opposite happened. They do not like to hear that real wages went up by 14 per cent and industrial disputation has declined in this country. The Financial Review got it right today in an editorial entitled ‘Beazley’s pointless huffing and puffing’, which stated:
... it would be far better for the party’s leaders to haul themselves out of the foetal position on reform - which they have also adopted on workplace relations ...
We have heard that the Leader of the Opposition is determined not to determine a position on taxation. We just wish that he would determine to make a determination about workplace relations reform rather than continuing the scaremongering that he has been involved in for the last 10 years.