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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-10-27 Daily Xml
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STATUTES AMENDMENT (NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS SYSTEM) BILL

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 13 October 2009. Page 3497.)

The Hon. R.D. LAWSON (16:15): Consistent with the attitude which my party has adopted to the Fair Work (Commonwealth Powers) Bill, we will also be opposing this bill, which is really consequential upon the passage of the fair work bill and the reference to the commonwealth of powers over industrial relations.

This bill amends 18 pieces of South Australian legislation to accommodate the new system. It contains some significant amendments to the South Australian Fair Work Act as well as amendments to many acts dealing with relevant matters. For example, there are amendments to the Local Government Act inserting a new provision relating to local government sector employees, and there are amendments, as one might expect, to the Long Service Leave Act, the Superannuation Act, the WorkCover Corporation Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. It is unnecessary, given the position we have taken in relation to this matter, to enlarge further upon those provisions.

I should have said in my earlier contribution in relation to the Fair Work (Commonwealth Powers) Bill that in another place the opposition spokesperson, the Hon. Iain Evans, outlined a number of examples of cases where South Australian businesses will be significantly disadvantaged by the referral of powers to the commonwealth. I commend to members the comments of the Hon. Mr Evans and urge members to read them.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (16:18): I rise to offer my brief remarks on the Statutes Amendment (National Industrial Relations System) Bill. My remarks will be brief because I have already discussed in some detail the intention and terms of the government's Fair Work (Commonwealth Powers) Bill 2009. The bill presently before us is the second part of that suite of legislation which will, as I have said, refer powers to the commonwealth so that South Australia's private sector may participate in the new national industrial relations system from January 2010.

The Statutes Amendment (National Industrial Relations System) Bill looks towards certain transitional and consequential amendments to state legislation necessary to facilitate our participation. This bill provides for the facilitation of arrangements during the transition of employers and employees to the state system, changes to state laws as a consequence and the updating of terminology and references in our statutes in light of the fact that the commonwealth has changed its laws. Special arrangements have been made for our South Australian public sector and local government.

Also, this will ensure certainty for these sectors in relation to jurisdiction. These arrangements have been outlined, and I do not intend to reprise their details. I will say, however, that the aim and intention of this bill is to make the change to the new system for the relevant parties as simple and trouble free as possible. I say again, as I said in discussion on the earlier bill, that this is indicative of Labor's approach. Contrast our approach with the way the coalition imposed on employers and employees a highly complex scheme, WorkChoices, which caused confusion and uncertainty and often, as a result, bitter division right across the employment spectrum.

In the spirit of the agreement between the commonwealth government and the states, and in observance of the ethos of cooperative federalism, the bill before us also anticipates consequential amendments to our own Fair Work Act 1994.

A small selection of examples will suffice, including section 3, which will be amended to include an additional object; that is, the facilitation of the establishment and operation of a national industrial relations system through cooperative federalism. Section 4, the interpretation provision, will be amended to allow for new definitions and updated references. Section 29 will be amended so as to set out the requirements for the performance of functions and the exercise of powers by the President of the Industrial Relations Commission. Section 215 will be amended so as to reflect the cooperation between the industrial authorities. Section 222, which relates to secondary boycotts, will be amended. Amendments to section 237 will allow the making of regulations for the purposes of the act, including saving and transitional matters.

Two new schedules are to be inserted in the Fair Work Act by way of this bill. These relate to the continuing of the industrial arrangement for government, business enterprises and the local government sector. The bill amends numerous other pieces of state legislation, including the Motor Accident Commission Act 1992, the Petroleum Submerged Lands Act 1982, the Stamp Duties Act 1923, the Rail Safety Act 2007, the South Australian Forestry Corporation Act 2002, and many others.

The changes we herald today clearly have a broad ambit and a wide impact. Of course, the amendments that I have outlined will ensure that all relevant statutes are entirely consistent with the Fair Work Act 2009, and the applicable fair work industrial instruments, so that no conflict, ambiguity or confusion arises.

In completing my remarks, I feel obliged to look back just one more time to a shabby chapter in our national story, that of WorkChoices. South Australian workers and their employers made it abundantly clear that they did not want an unfair, unbalanced and confusing industrial relations regime that treated people as economic units on a market-driven conveyor belt. We are so much better than that and, fortunately, we have moved on to a new chapter. We take our cue from the concept of the civilised society that Sir Justice Higgins espoused in the Harvester decision in 1907.

The Rudd Labor government was elected on the basis that WorkChoices should be dismantled. That government and its partner, the Rann Labor government, are determined to fulfil their mandates and will not be distracted. We will not be dissuaded from this objective. We will together set in place an industrial relations system that is based not on conflict and discord but on the facilitation of fair agreements that contribute to workplace productivity, and a system that will benefit us all.

As a community here in South Australia, we will participate in the great national industrial relations reform that this bill and the Fair Work (Commonwealth Powers) Bill represent. They are reforms underpinned by fairness and decency and reforms that will take us well into the 21st century. I commend the bill.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. J.M. Gazzola.

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