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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2007-11-21 Daily Xml
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AUSTRALIAN WORKPLACE AGREEMENTS

Mr KENYON (Newland) (14:48): My question is to the Minister for Industrial Relations. Can the minister inform the house about the recent statistics released on AWAs that have failed the Howard government's fairness test? Does he think this will still be a problem after Saturday?

The Hon. M.J. WRIGHT (Lee—Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Finance, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:49): I thank the member for his question.

The Hon. I.F. EVANS: I rise on a point of order, sir. The question implied a result for Saturday. That is hypothetical. The question is out of order. The election has not been decided. The question clearly implied a hypothetical result; it is out of order.

The SPEAKER: I think the question had two parts, if I understood it correctly. I uphold the member for Davenport's order about the second part, but the minister is free to answer the first part of the question.

The Hon. M.J. WRIGHT: I will stick strictly to the first part, sir; I will ignore the second part. The Federal Workplace Authority has recently released its statistical breakdown of the number of Australian workplace agreements that fail to satisfy the fairness test. As at 31 October 2007, over 16,000 AWAs entered into did not pass the Howard government's so-called fairness test. What this highlights is that Australian Workplace Agreements are incapable of ensuring South Australian workers get a fair go when it comes to their workplace rights. The October 2007 statistics also revealed that the workplace authority is yet to apply the so-called fairness test to over 140,000 AWAs, including those for South Australian workers. This is not the fair go all round that South Australian families expected from the Howard government.

The inquiry report into WorkChoices handed down by the Industrial Relations Commission of South Australia was highly critical of the fairness test. It held that the fairness test was a poor substitute for the 'no disadvantage test' because 'it will not prevent a loss of non-protected award and other conditions without adequate compensation'. So, we know that, based on the evidence received throughout that inquiry, the fairness test does not restore the balance in bargaining positions between employers and employees. Even the federal health minister, Tony Abbott, has admitted that workers' protections have been stripped away. Make no mistake, as extreme as the first wave of WorkChoices is, Howard and Costello want to take it even further.

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