Page 3964 - Week 12 - Thursday, 20 October 2005
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I believe that the Minister for Children, Youth and Family Support has worked hard to ensure that the future of young people in the territory is bright. As the minister just outlined in her progress report, the children’s plan and young people’s plan have proved to be successful models for ensuring that government and community groups work together to provide the best opportunities for future Canberrans.
Canberra’s population continues to grow. Our economy is strong and our unemployment is the lowest in the country. However, this bright future for our children and young people is threatened by the Howard government’s decision to radically alter a workplace relationship system that has led to harmonious workplaces thus far, workplaces that have fostered good working relationships between young employees and their employers.
The future that Mr Howard envisages for the young workers of this territory is very different. His changes threaten the fundamental building blocks of the existing system, such as training, health and safety, and basic working conditions. They will affect the future of our young people. I am not alone in having these concerns. Les Twentyman is a social worker with the not-for-profit organisation Open Family Australia. For nearly 30 years, Open Family Australia has been helping to improve the wellbeing and self-worth of street children.
Mr Twentyman is the public face of that organisation, which operates in Sydney, Melbourne and right here in Canberra. He has spoken in the media about the industrial relations changes because he is worried that they will give unscrupulous employers the ability to exploit young workers. Mr Twentyman is not a politician; nor is he seeking to make any political gain from his comments. He is quite simply concerned about the future of young people under these changes. On 13 October this year he was reported by AAPT as saying, “There are a lot of lives that can be really screwed up if we do not ensure the right safeguards are in place.”
As Mr Twentyman pointed out in his rather colourful language, the chances for young people to be exploited through employment practices such as unpaid trial periods, low rates of pays and misuse of bargaining power are much higher under these proposed reforms. By its own admission, the federal government has admitted he is right to be concerned. Its recently released WorkChoices booklet admits that workers under the age of 18 are in an unfair bargaining position as compared with employers and suggests that the new system will therefore include a requirement that the consent of a parent or guardian be gained before a young person signs an AWA.
It is a sad indictment of the Howard government that it has taken so long for it to admit that young workers are being exploited through the misuse of AWAs. It is also an admission that union-negotiated agreements do not need the consent of a parent or guardian because, through collective bargaining power and industrial relations expertise, a union agreement ensures that young workers are not exploited. The government is admitting that there is overwhelming potential for its secret, individual AWAs to be used to exploit young workers. It is a great example of ill-thought out, ideologically driven policy.
The Howard government is asking parents to become industrial relations experts to ensure their children are not taken advantage of. Today a parent can rest assured that
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