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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2007-11-21 Daily Xml
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WORKCHOICES

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN (16:00): I wish to commend to members the report of the Industrial Relations Commission of South Australia on its Inquiry into the Impact of WorkChoices and Independent Contractor Legislation on South Australian Workplaces Employees and Employers. This report was, of course, produced after the Minister for Industrial Relations (Hon. Michael Wright) in March this year directed the commission to inquire into and report on those matters.

It is important that, given the impact of WorkChoices on South Australian employees and workplaces, we had an objective and independent inquiry look into it. The commission received evidence from witnesses by way of 30 written submissions and various oral submissions. It also conducted a series of regional visits, as well as hearings in Adelaide, to enable people to make submissions, and released its final report on 25 October. The key conclusion of that inquiry is that WorkChoices is unduly complex and has created a highly regulated federal industrial system.

I have certainly made the point previously that the Liberal Party—supposedly the party of lowering red tape and reducing the government sector—has presided over the most regulated federal industrial system we have ever had. The commission also concluded that up to 105,000 South Australian employees who were previously covered by the state industrial system have been brought under WorkChoices. The commission found that WorkChoices has adversely affected many South Australian employees, especially those in the lower paid, less skilled and more vulnerable sectors of the workforce.

The introduction of WorkChoices means that employees must rely more than ever before on their ability to negotiate with their employers in order to secure fair terms and conditions of employment. Of course, the fundamental weakness of WorkChoices is that it very much puts the bargaining power on an unequal level, so that the employee is at a disadvantage. The commission found that many South Australian employees have lost the right to procedural fairness in the process of a termination of employment and have lost the protection of unfair dismissal remedies.

The commission found that workplace agreements can be made which exist almost entirely independently of awards due to the removal of the no-disadvantage test and the ability to exclude or modify award conditions. The commission made a number of other findings and conclusions, including the observation that, due to the complexity of WorkChoices, many employers and employees are confused about their rights and obligations. As a result, the commission, as it was also asked to do, came up with a number of recommendations. The commission has recommended that the government ensure that resources are directed towards the provision of advice, assistance, education and public advocacy services to South Australian employees and employers.

This should be done by either establishing a new entity, resourcing SafeWork SA or expanding the role of the Employee Ombudsman. The role and name of the Office of the Employee Ombudsman should be reviewed in light of changes within the industrial relations environment, according to the commission. I also commend the Office of the Employee Ombudsman and the Ombudsman, Mr Brennan, for their very substantial contribution to this inquiry. I know that the people who work there put a lot of work into their submissions, and this included hearing submissions from members of the public.

The commission has also recommended amendments to the Equal Opportunity Act to extend the grounds of prescribed discriminatory conduct to include grounds related to caring responsibilities and parental leave, because it has seen WorkChoices as being family unfriendly. There are a number of other recommendations which the commissioner has made, and I commend the report to members.

I congratulate those people in the community taking part in 'Movember' to raise money for research into prostate cancer and men's depression, including the members for Light, Mount Gambier and Newland in another place and my friend John 'Disco' Dunn at the Shoppies. Finally, I wish the very best to all those members of the Labor Party contesting the federal election on Saturday. I know that Karen Lock in Barker has put in a particularly good effort in such a difficult seat traditionally for the Labor Party; and I wish the best to my good friends Amanda Rishworth in Kingston and Nick Champion in Wakefield and to our Senate candidates, led by the inestimable Don Farrell.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins): Order! Before calling the Hon. Mr Hood, the chair notes that he was too far away to see the honourable member's moustache.

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