Page 3144 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 24 September 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
We see the fair work legislation under threat from the new Abbott government. We see the minister, Senator Abetz, deliberately working to undermine some of the core tenets of the Fair Work Act, to undermine the capacity for employees, for workers, to protect their rights and conditions.
What is particularly concerning are the provisions that Ms Berry has focused on in her motion—the amendments, for example, to expand the provision to allow the consideration of non-monetary benefits in the “better off overall” test. This, of course, opens the door for employers to negotiate individual agreements which require employees to forgo overtime or penalty rates.
This Assembly, and indeed those members opposite, has just supported amendments to our own holidays clause that ensure that, when people are asked to work on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day, and those days fall on the weekend, they are able to claim penalty rates. That is the effect of that amendment. The effect of that amendment, which this Assembly has supported, is to make sure that when people are asked to work on those days—perhaps, say, they work in hospitality or they work in retail and they know that they have to go to work—they are able to claim the penalty rate for that work.
Previously those days were not declared public holidays, and you could not claim the penalty rate for a public holiday. Even though the rest of us enjoy the privilege and the luxury of having those days off, knowing that if they fell on a weekday, they would be captured, for example, through public sector agreements, that is not the case, and was not the case, until the passage of those important laws.
That is a good example of how ACT Labor locally is acting to protect the interests of people in the workforce. This motion highlights that some of those things are at risk if we see the federal Liberals try to achieve the outcomes they have set out in that bill. So it is important that we bring these issues to the attention of the Assembly today.
We have also seen issues around paid parental leave. We know that under the current Fair Work Act an employee taking unpaid parental leave may request their employer to extend the leave period for a further period up to 12 months, and that can only be refused on reasonable business grounds. The amending bill that is before the parliament would require the employer, before refusing a request, to give the employer reasonable opportunity to discuss the request, but it places no onus on the employer to actually consider that request, because there is no oversight of that process, and the Fair Work Commission is not able to look at those matters.
That is not a fair outcome. That means, in what is already an unequal bargaining arrangement, that the employer potentially can take advantage of those provisions. I am sure there are many who would not, but our concern is about those who would, and we know that those employers exist. So it is very important that we focus on protecting the interests of workers in those circumstances.
This motion also highlights the fundamental differences between Labor and those on the other side of this place and their counterparts up on the hill. As a political party,
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video