Mr ANDREWS (Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) (9:47 AM) —I move:

On Friday, 2 December the Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Bill 2005 passed the Senate with a number of amendments. These amendments must now be considered by the House. The government has always maintained that it is open to sensible amendments that do not undermine the integrity of the Work Choices bill. The amendments enhance the Work Choices bill, mostly through technical changes, with some minor changes to policy. A number of sensible changes were suggested as part of the Senate inquiry into the bill, which reported on 22 November 2005. The government took on board these sensible amendments and moved a series of government amendments in the Senate. These amendments are now before the House for consideration.

The minor policy amendments will, firstly, ensure that people who are employed for a specific number of hours a week will be paid at least for those hours each week, irrespective of whether the actual number of hours worked each week fluctuates. Secondly, the amendments guarantee that employees who are engaged for a fixed number of hours accrue annual and personal or carers leave based on those fixed number of hours, regardless of the number of hours actually worked in a given week. Thirdly, the amendments protect award provisions relating to the timing of payment for award-covered employees. Fourthly, they guarantee that employees will be paid at least fortnightly in arrears, unless they are covered by an Australian pay and classification scale or an arrangement or agreement that provides for frequency of payment. Fifthly, they provide for the averaging of hours only by way of an award agreement or contract. Sixthly, the amendments change the medical certificate requirements for personal leave. Seventhly, there is a provision that allows employees to provide a statutory declaration as an alternative to a medical certificate where it is not practical to provide a medical certificate. Eighthly, the amendments provide employees with the right to refuse to work on a public holiday on reasonable grounds.

Further amendments extend the notional expiry date for union greenfields agreements to five years, clarify that the only circumstance in which accepting an AWA as a condition of employment is not duress is when it applies to prospective employees, clarify that the 90-day notice of the unilateral termination of an agreement can be given only after nominal expiry date of the agreement, introduce a regulation-making power to widen scope for awards and agreements to override state and territory laws in relation to apprenticeships and traineeships—the provisions do not currently refer specifically to traineeships—treat traineeships on the same basis as apprenticeships, prevent companies restructuring to have fewer than 100 employees to avoid unfair dismissal laws based on section 50 of the Corporations Law, extend the time for election to proceed to bring court proceedings for an unlawful termination matter from seven days to 28 days to accommodate the new $4,000 financial assistance scheme and maintain existing protections for outworkers to prevent exploitation of this vulnerable group of workers.

The Senate also accepted one non-government amendment to the Work Choices bill—the Australian Democrats amendment R17A—which aligned the Australian Industrial Relations Commission’s obligations in relation to equal remuneration with those of the Australian Fair Pay Commission. The government will be accepting this amendment, which was in the same terms as an amendment the government had proposed. As a consequence, the government proposes to accept all amendments to the Work Choices bill made by the Senate.

The bulk of the substantive amendments made by the bill will commence on proclamation. Schedule 3, which relates to school based apprentices and trainees, will commence on royal assent. So too will provisions dealing with redundancy pay for small business employers. The Australian Fair Pay Commission will also be able to begin consultations about wages issues from royal assent.

Schedule 4, part 1, which permits the making of regulations for transitional and consequential amendments, will also commence on royal assent to allow for preparations to be made for the introduction of the new system. All other schedules will commence on a date fixed by proclamation, which will occur during the course of the first half of 2006.

Ten years ago the union movement and the Labor Party predicted that the Workplace Relations Act would drive down wages, destroy working conditions, increase unemployment and slash working conditions. How wrong they were. They were wrong when they said this in 1996 and they are still wrong in 2005. The passage of this bill sets the scene for the implementation of significant reforms to the workplace relations system, such as moving towards a national workplace scheme. These reforms will give Australia a workplace relations system designed for the 21st century—a system which looks to the future, not to the past. (Extension of time granted)

Contrary to what the critics suggest, the bill will not usher in a system that exposes employees to exploitation. Rather, the bill as amended will make the workplace relations system fairer. Fairness does not require complexity. In fact, fairness is impeded by complexity. Fairness is best ensured by a system which is easily understood by both employers and employees—when they know what they have in the system. Work Choices will put in place a clear set of minimum wages and conditions and a less confusing and bureaucratic process for agreement making in the workplace. The government will enshrine in law minimum conditions of employment, ensure that award wages and basic working conditions, including the right to be represented by a union, are protected by law, and that there are comprehensive transitional arrangements to assist employers and employees in the move to a new system.

The government wants to give more Australians a chance at a job and to drive down our unemployment rate even further. We are determined to put economic reality back at the centre of workplace regulation, where it should have been all along, and give more Australians the choice to participate in Australia’s workplaces. It is important to note that even after these reforms are implemented, Australia’s workplace relations system will still be more regulated than that of New Zealand or the United States. Importantly, what this bill does is provide a framework to improve productivity, encourage participation, create more jobs and secure a prosperous future for Australia. Work Choices does this by accommodating the greater demand for choice and flexibility in our workplaces. It continues a process of evolution begun over a decade ago towards a system that trusts Australian men and women to make their own decisions in the workplace and to do so in a way which best suits them.

This bill makes the necessary changes to move away from an outdated and inefficient system that no longer meets the needs of a modern Australian economy. For it is a strong economy which enables employers to pay their workers more, it is a strong economy that reduces unemployment and it is a strong economy that delivers, just as it has done over the last decade, more jobs and higher wages for all Australians. Work Choices is founded on the principle that the best arrangements are those developed by employees and employers at the workplace. The government recognises that the time to turn this idea into law and move to a better system is now. I commend the amendments to the House.