Mr ANDREWS (Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) (3:06 PM) —Listening again, as we did today, to the windbaggery of the Leader of the Opposition, I am reminded that there is one thing that Paul Keating definitely got right and that is when he said that the Leader of the Opposition was a ‘useless windbag’, because that is all we hear from the Leader of the Opposition—a man who, in his whole 20 years of political life has simply been a political passenger in reforming this country. Let us have a look at the record of the Leader of the Opposition. He does not like his own record.

Mr Beazley —Mr Speaker, on a point of order: you quite rightly drew my attention to the need for me to constantly refer my remarks to the motion before the chair. Where is it from this fellow?

The SPEAKER —The minister will address the motion before the chair.

Mr ANDREWS —Mr Speaker, the motion before the chair should be defeated because the record of this government has been about improving the working conditions of Australians. In contrast, the record of the Leader of the Opposition, when he was Minister for Employment, Education and Training, is an abysmal record. Teenage unemployment in Australia, when this man was in charge of unemployment in this country, was 34.5 per cent. That is the record of the opposition that comes in and says, ‘Look at the record of the government.’ Our record is a 14.9 per cent increase in real wages, 1.7 million extra jobs and over 10 million Australians in work. That is why this motion should be defeated.

Mr Beazley —Mr Speaker, on a point of order: I was obliged for 10 minutes to stick to the motion. This bloke is being allowed to rant and rave about anything but the motion. He squibs debate in this place and then accuses us—

The SPEAKER —The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. While the Leader of the Opposition spoke to his motion, he also engaged in a fairly wide-ranging debate, and the minister is in order.

Mr ANDREWS —Mr Speaker, if the Leader of the Opposition was interested in debating me in the four days of parliament this week, why has he not taken an opportunity in nearly 40 questions—

Mr Brendan O’Connor —Where is the legislation?

The SPEAKER —Order! The minister will resume his seat. The member for Gorton will excuse himself under standing order 94(a).

The member of Gorton then left the chamber.

Mr ANDREWS —Almost 40 questions in four days in question time, Mr Speaker, and not one question to me. Who is squibbing debate? The reality is that the economic conditions that the people of Australia enjoy today are because of the concern of this government for the Australian work force and Australian workers and the prosperity of this country.

Mr Crean —Rubbish! Absolute rubbish!

The SPEAKER —The member for Hotham.

Mr ANDREWS —I hear the former Leader of the Opposition say ‘Rubbish!’ I suppose 10 million people in work, in his view, is rubbish. I suppose 1.7 million extra jobs is rubbish. I suppose a 14.9 per cent increase in the real wages of Australians is rubbish.

Mr Crean interjecting—

The SPEAKER —The member for Hotham is warned.

Mr ANDREWS —I suppose a low inflation rate, in the view of the former Leader of the Opposition, is rubbish. I suppose current interest rates—a far cry from when the Leader of the Opposition was in government where people were paying 14, 15 and 17 per cent interest rates and, in small business, 21 and 22 per cent interest rates—are rubbish. Of course not. Each time the people of Australia have been asked who should lead this country, what have they decisively said? They have said, like a lot of his colleagues have revealed in Mr Latham’s diaries, that this man sitting opposite is simply weak. It was summed up in one quote—

Mr Kerr —Mr Speaker, on a point of order: I draw your attention to the rulings you have made and the obvious defiance of the minister to them. It is persistent and it is disgraceful, and I would ask you to—

The SPEAKER —The member will resume his seat. I call the minister and would remind him that the motion before the chair is to suspend standing orders, but I remind all members that the Leader of the Opposition was offered quite a lot of latitude.

Mr ANDREWS —The reality of this motion is the fact that, so far as actually doing anything, so far as actually bringing forward some policy that has been regularly, persistently and consistently argued for the Australian people, we have had 9½ years of inaction and nothing from the opposition led by this man who sits at the table at the moment—this man who, I might remind members opposite, they thought was an inferior choice to Mark Latham.

Mr Kerr —Mr Speaker, on a point of order: I would ask you to enforce the rulings you have made. The minister is plainly—

The SPEAKER —The member for Denison will resume his seat. The member for Denison will be aware that I have asked the minister and I am listening carefully to what he says.

Mr ANDREWS —This motion should be defeated because there is no credibility whatsoever in the opposition in this place. And the reality that Australia finds itself in today is that we have got a weak and useless opposition. Let me just pick up one of the elements of this campaign. As I said in question time today, what we have is the union movement running around the country railing against flexibility in workplace relations.

Mr Kerr —Mr Speaker, on a point of order: the member for Gorton was required to leave this chamber for persistently not following your instructions.

The SPEAKER —The member for Denison will not reflect on the chair.

Mr Kerr —Please excuse me, Mr Speaker. I made the point that he was ejected from the chamber for not following the directions that you made, and I am simply asking you to enforce what is plainly being defied time and time again by this minister.

The SPEAKER —The member for Denison will resume his seat. The minister is responding to the motion, and I will call the minister; he is in order.

Mr ANDREWS —Mr Speaker, I am responding to a matter which was specifically raised by the Leader of the Opposition. He talked about workers’ entitlements and rights. Let me say about that that today we have the union movement in Australia railing against workers having flexibility in their arrangements and railing against the reality that is part of the workplace system today that workers are able to work on Saturdays and Sundays and public holidays.

I gave some examples of agreements today where the very thing that the unions are railing against are the things which they are entering into agreements on and having them signed up in the Industrial Relations Commission. On one hand, we hear them in here railing against the fact that hundreds of thousands of people work on public holidays and, on the other hand, we have instruments of employment negotiated and entered into by unions in Australia put forward for certification at the Industrial Relations Commission which provide that degree of flexibility. This is a confected outrage by the Leader of the Opposition. As I said, this was a man who, when told by Paul Keating that he had better go along and vote in 1993 for workplace change, did it. When he has been told not to do it, he will not do it today.

Mr Kerr —Mr Speaker, on another point of order: again, a personal attack—

The SPEAKER —No, the member will resume his seat. The minister is in order.

Mr Edwards —Mr Speaker, on a point of order: I fail to see where personal denigration is in any way related to this motion that is being debated.

The SPEAKER —I have responded before that there has been a wide-ranging debate and the minister is clearly responding to the motion.

Mr ANDREWS —This is sheer hypocrisy on the part of the ALP and the union movement. The reality is that this is a weak leader. (Time expired)