Page 4270 - Week 11 - Thursday, 25 October 2018
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
allegations of wage theft. This so-called red tape will make it easier for workers to get their stolen wages back.
This secure jobs code will help make Canberra workers more secure in their workplace. But it is not enough. We need to kick out this anti-worker, anti-union federal government. We need to reinstall penalty rates. We need to abolish the ABCC. We need to change the rules for working people. On Tuesday we saw thousands of working people across the country march in support of making our industrial system fairer. There is immense community support for the ACTU’s change the rules campaign.
This secure local jobs code is an element of the broader labour movement’s campaign to make Australia a more equitable country. This is in obvious contrast to the Liberals and their mates in big business. The Liberals in this place support companies that rip off Canberrans. They want to make it harder for Canberrans to support themselves and their families. They are only the friends of big business.
Madam Assistant Speaker, the government’s secure local jobs code is another step forward for a more ethical and fairer Canberra. Our policy is a continuum of the progressive reforms made through the labour movement since 1891. I would like to thank the minister, the directorate and the unions for their tireless campaign on this issue, in particular the CFMEU and United Voice. This jobs code is supported by the entire labour movement as a promise we took to the 2016 election. It is great that this promise is being fulfilled, and I am proud to support this bill.
MR HANSON (Murrumbidgee) (12.05): I was not going to speak on this because I made some comments when I spoke on the committee report earlier this week, but I notice that I have been brought into the debate by Mr Rattenbury and I would also like to make a couple of comments responding to some of Mr Pettersson’s claims.
Referring to the report, what was agreed unanimously by the committee was:
… that the ACT Government continue to pursue procurement outcomes that ensure public money only goes to contractors who have the highest ethical and labour standards.
That was agreed unanimously by the committee. That is agreed, I hope, by everybody in this Assembly. Certainly that was the view of the business groups that appeared before the committee. We want to make sure that it is businesses that have good labour standards and good ethical conduct who are getting contracts with the ACT government. That is what we all agree on.
It is clear that the legislation that is before us and the jobs code that sits under it as a disallowable instrument do not achieve that aim. That is the point here. There is a deliberate attempt by those opposite to suggest that the fact that business groups do not agree with this legislation, and the opposition does not agree with this legislation, somehow suggests that we support unethical conduct. That is ridiculous. That is an inflation of the evidence that has been presented before the committee. It is in
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video