Page 3450 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 21 September 2005
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is dismantle the work of generations upon generations of good union members. That is what it is set on doing. That is the task. It is to undo the work of at least 100 years or more of hard work, of sacrifice, by good union members—Australian families, the backbone of the nation. It is all about eroding the basic rights of working Australians to a fair wage to a fair workplace and to their fair share of the wealth of Australia, which is a wealthy country. That is what it is that John Howard and the commonwealth government have set out to do. I think we need to acknowledge that it is the most significant threat that Australian workers have faced for decades. There is no more serious threat to Australian workers and Australian families than that which they now face.
Just two weeks ago I attended a lunch as guest of the Master Builders Association and the conversation over lunch was quite interesting. I think there are not many here who would not agree that the Master Builders Association and its members are not necessarily rusted on Labor supporters, or indeed the sort of audience that one would have expected to perhaps have had much sympathy for the position that the Labor Party and the Labor movement have put in relation to the so-called industrial relations reforms that John Howard and the federal Liberals are about to crash through the federal parliament.
The overwhelming sentiment at the meeting in a discussion around industrial relations was that there is no pressing need for industrial reform. That was the sentiment, that was the view expressed by developers engaged in the busiest period in construction and building and development in the ACT, certainly since the construction or the building of the new Parliament House. The overwhelming sentiment that was expressed was that they do not see such a need in their relationship with their work force. We are talking here about building sites, we are talking essentially about relationships with the CFMEU and other unions involved in the construction industry. They were saying to me that they see no need for these reforms. This is their experience in respect of their workplaces. I am talking here about building sites. I am talking about a meeting I had with builders and developers who expressed the view that they see no need for these reforms, that they see no need for the confrontation.
Mr Smyth : I will check with the MBA then.
MR STANHOPE: You should check this with the MBA. You should ask them what their experience is. You should ask them. This is an important discussion and an important point because it goes to the heart of the debate: why has the federal Liberal government set itself on this track, on this route? What is it that it seeks to achieve in an environment of record low employment? A three per cent trend unemployment in the ACT was delivered by Labor governments. It certainly was not delivered as a consequence of industrial unrest or an industrial relations system that was not working.
And this is the issue, this is the conundrum: you have the Liberal’s sitting there laughing and scoffing about trend unemployment of around three per cent and in the same breath demanding the most drastic and draconian industrial relations reform that goes to the heart of the working conditions and the working life of workers and families—workers and families that have delivered record profits, that have delivered three per cent unemployment in trend terms in the ACT, and that are involved in the busiest period of activity in building and construction and economic development and growth in the history of the ACT. There is more building and construction under way at the moment in
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