Senator HOGG —My question is directed to the Minister representing the Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business, Senator Alston. Can the minister confirm reports that the government's preferred employment contracts model, Australian workplace agreements, has been rejected by staff in the policy unit of Mr Reith's own department in favour of a certified agreement? Can he confirm that 30 members of the department's policy unit signed an internal memo which stated:

. . . we feel the AWA would lead to a more divided workplace, where trust, openness, honesty and professionalism could be compromised.

If members of the minister's own policy unit hold such views of Mr Reith's beloved AWA model, who on earth is advising him as he goes about drafting his next round of draconian workplace reform?

Senator ALSTON (Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) —Mr Reith has taken the best possible advice on this issue, and there is no doubt that Australian workplace agreements are the way to go. I have no doubt that that was a view shared by the Labor Party at one stage. If you remember, after the 1993 election for about five minutes you actually had Mr Keating out there espousing a lot more enterprise based arrangements.

Senator Cook interjecting—

Senator ALSTON —Well if you are telling me that I should not believe a word Mr Keating says, I would not really want to quarrel with that.

Senator Cook —You shouldn't misquote him.

Senator ALSTON —The fact is that this is a step forward. You know it, but of course you are locked in the past because you do not have any choice. You are simply trying to ensure that we do not have productivity based arrangements; that we have across-the-board, lowest common denominator approaches that are totally inappropriate in the global community, where there are a lot more competitive pressures around, where competition is a matter of life and death for enterprises and where you do actually need to negotiate on an individual basis.

All I can say is that the Labor Party ought to study this issue a lot more closely. If you are interested in mainstream Australia and in encouraging people to keep the fruits of their labour, you ought to embrace tax reform and more flexible workplace agreements. You ought to understand that the real benefits will not flow through to you in electoral terms whilst you bury their heads in the sand.

Senator HOGG —Madam President, I ask a supplementary question. Minister, you failed to address the issues I raised in my question about confirming the establishment of the memo and the fact that the people within the department rejected the Australian workplace agreement. I ask if you would address those questions as well in your answer to my supplementary question. Can you advise the Senate if the views of the policy unit have had the effect of watering down the next wave of reforms to be proposed by Minister Reith, or is the minister still doggedly clinging to the New Zealand experience where, under the Employment Contract Act, individual contracts of the kind rejected by his own staff are the only option available to New Zealand workers? Were the arguments that you put to me in answer to the question put to Minister Reith's staff in the first instance as well?

Senator ALSTON (Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) —The difference is that we believe in choice. Many senior management and other staff in Mr Reith's department have entered into Australian workplace agreements. Consistent with the government's policy, it is open to employees to choose, with their employer, how they want their wages and conditions of employment to be regulated. Some staff have decided they would prefer to remain under the department's certified agreements. Other departmental staff will continue to be offered Australian workplace agreements.

At the end of the day, it is their call. We do not impose `one model fits all'. We do not simply have an ideological view of the world that the union movement says, `We want, and we want you to deliver.' We leave it up to the individuals themselves. But, overwhelmingly, we are confident that people will embrace Australian workplace agreements as providing them with a lot more flexibility, a lot more capacity to keep the fruits of productivity gains in the workplace and to get the real benefits that would flow through from improvements. The tragedy is, of course, that you simply do not want to recognise that. (Time expired)