Senator LUDWIG (Minister for Human Services) (9:43 PM) —The short answer is that I do not know how the opposition have managed to get it so wrong. The point I am making is that this was a matter that was introduced by the opposition into freedom of association legislation to provide protection for independent contractors from, dare I say it, industrial associations or organisations. It is a matter that the ABCC rely on when they pursue industrial organisations which may have breached the freedom of association provisions by trying to deal with independent contractors. The real question, though, in dealing with this is: have any independent contractors made submissions that they want less protection than is currently provided for under the existing legislation? I do not think so.

I am not certain that they have actually worked it through. I have provided a summary of what could happen if it were removed. It is quite telling in itself that by removing that protection you could effectively end up with circumstances whereby independent contractors may have no recourse under freedom of association legislation. Nonetheless, this government is committed to freedom of association protection for both employees and independent contractors. I think there is a need for both.

What the opposition are suggesting is that we remove independent contractors from that so that there is, in short, no protection for them in this legislation. In all fairness, I think they have confused the issue. The legislation does not regulate independent contractors’ terms and conditions. For independent contractors, except as I indicated earlier for outworkers, it only relates to the area of freedom of association. It is a sensible position. What the opposition are putting forward is not sensible and exposes independent contractors to matters that the ABCC have been chasing unions down for, utilising freedom of association legislation to do just that. It is a quite unique position that the opposition are now putting forward. It seems to be that they have abandoned independent contractors to the jungle.