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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-04-02 Daily Xml
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CLOTHING OUTWORKERS

Mr PISONI (Unley) (11:57): I move:

That the regulations made under the Fair Work Act 1994 entitled Clothing Outworkers, made on 18 October 2007, and laid on the table of this house on 23 October 2007, be disallowed.

The reason I am moving this motion is not that Liberal Party members are opposed to the award system or those who are employed under an award. We support that, and we like to see people employed under fair and reasonable terms. However, we believe that the regulations should be disallowed and the government should introduce a new code that omits offensive provisions.

The proposed code will require all South Australian clothing retailers except charities to ascertain whether their supplier will use workers engaged under a relevant award (clause 10(1)(a)). Exactly how the retailer can ascertain this information is not clear. It is not a burden that is put on any other retailer. As a matter of fact, the hype that we have seen about the outsourcers code and the motion that I have moved in this house is quite extraordinary.

I have here a flier for people to attend International Women's Day in March. One of the items mentioned in support of the march is to protest against the exploitation of textile workers in Australia and the rest of the world. What is interesting about the flier is that there is a photograph on the cover of Chinese or Vietnamese textile workers, yet this government, through the education department (DECS), is outsourcing our school uniform contracts away from South Australian manufacturers to Chinese and Vietnamese manufacturers.

Yet, they have the audacity to put an enormous burden on those South Australian manufacturers and retailers who prefer to stay in South Australia and who are doing the right thing by employing South Australians. They are paying land tax, payroll tax and GST. They are paying all their taxes in South Australia, yet DECS is giving contracts for South Australian school uniforms to Chinese and Vietnamese companies that exploit their workers. That is not me saying that, it is the organisers of the International Women's Day march who are saying that those countries exploit their workers. I have travelled to China extensively.

Debate adjourned.

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