Page 1533 - Week 05 - Thursday, 11 May 2006
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dismissal legislation. Mrs Burke would have us believe that workers’ rights, their health and safety and their working conditions are not under threat. She accuses us of “crystal-balling”.
This week, after an agonising 13 days and 14 nights, the two trapped miners at Beaconsfield, Todd Russell and Brant Webb, walked free. All of us were hugely encouraged by their rescue and thank from the bottom of our hearts those who risked their lives to rescue them. The miners and their courage and that of their families will always remain in our memories, I am sure, particularly the family of Larry Knight, the miner who tragically died as a result of the rock fall. The courage and thoughtfulness of that family in the face of such tragic loss shone through. We saw how professionally the rescue teams worked in such difficult circumstances—
MR SPEAKER: Ms Porter, have you drawn a link between that and the motion? You need to draw a link between what you—
MS PORTER: I am going to. May I continue, Mr Speaker?
MR SPEAKER: Yes.
MS PORTER: Thank you. We saw how professionally the rescue team worked in such difficult circumstances to free their colleagues. However, Kim Beazley recently copped a lot of flack for stating that one of the reasons these two miners are still alive is union safety training. Unions have a significant role to play in protecting the health and safety of employees. WorkChoices will remove the protection unions can offer in occupational health and safety, and it is entirely likely that safety conditions will deteriorate in some workplaces because of the removal of the protection offered by unions.
Quite clearly, though, Mrs Burke is not interested in finding out whether ACT workers health and safety conditions will deteriorate or not. Maybe Mrs Burke does not care. Not only are workers’ rights and conditions under threat; it is happening already. Canberra employers are using WorkChoices to sack, to change working conditions and to enforce individual contracts that are below award. Her motion is naive. It is disrespectful of those workers and their families who have already had a raw deal under WorkChoices.
Someone has had to ask the hard questions, Mrs Burke. It is not easy at a time like this to ask them, and you would prefer, I know, for us just to light the blue touch paper and sit back and watch the results. I am afraid that this legislation may cause an explosion of workers’ rights like nothing we have ever seen in this country. No effects for at least a year, Mrs Burke? Unsubstantiated claims, Mrs Burke?
According to a report circulated on Tuesday of last week, a major employer, Spotless Services Australia, is offering its cleaners and catering staff a new contract that cuts their wages and removes or reduces important entitlements such as part-time and casual loadings, overtime and redundancy. In a document given to unions by lawyers acting for the company, Spotless specifically mentioned flexibility and decreased costs that the WorkChoices system have given to the company’s competitors. The company claims it must drive down its own work and pay conditions in order to compete. The race to the bottom has already begun. How long do you want us to stand around for and watch it happen, Mrs Burke?
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