PRIME MINISTER:
Well ladies and gentlemen I'd of course like to acknowledge the presence of Kevin Andrews, the Minister for Workplace Relations, and David Fawcett, the Member for Wakefield, my parliamentary colleague, I'd like to thank Lance and Judy for allowing us to come here to mark the signing of the one millionth Australian Workplace Agreement. It was signed between Comrec and Bob Raven and it was lodged last week. Australian Workplace Agreements have now been in operation for nine years, the first of them was signed in 1997. Since the passage of WorkChoices, the new legislation, the take-up of AWAs has gathered pace. Something like 117,000 have been signed over the last six months and the month of September saw something like 27,000 AWAs signed, which was an increase of 46 per cent on the monthly average for 2005. So there must be something in these agreements and what we have seen is that people more and more are embracing the flexibility that AWAs provide. They are really custom-made employment arrangements that suit the purposes of individual enterprises.
And talking to Lance and to Bob and Judy, one gets the impression that the flexibility is one of the things that attracted them to AWAs. The important point to make is that it's all about providing people with choice about their workplace arrangements and the reason why we think it's very bad policy of the Labor Party to commit itself to abolishing AWAs, is that abolishing AWAs will take away the sort of choice and flexibility that a company like this and an employee like Bob have found to be so very valuable for them.
Since WorkChoices was introduced six months ago, despite all of the predictions of gloom and despair and horror and shock and Armageddon, we've seen 175,000 more jobs created, we've seen strikes fall to their lowest level since statistics began to be kept and we've seen real wages continue to grow. I can't think of anything more foolish than to get rid of AWAs given the impact that their abolition would be on the mining industry in particular. I know this is not a mining establishment but the mining industry is very important to Australia at the present time and a lot of the growth in the mining industry has been based on the industrial relations flexibility that workplace agreements have brought.
So our philosophy is very much one of choice. Not every firm likes workplace agreements, not every firm likes collective agreements. Not every firm likes working just in relation to the award. What you need is flexibility and the great advantage that our policy offers is greater flexibility and it's obvious from my discussion with Bob and with Lance and Judy that they find the flexibility of workplace agreements acceptable to them and that's what really matters. And so I say happy one millionth AWA. It's quite a milestone. It's quite likely, of course, by the time of the election at the end of next year there could be easily a million still in operation because they are growing at such a rapid rate and the idea of causing chaos to, and disrupting the workplace arrangements of a million people is too horrible to contemplate. But I want to thank again Lance and Judy for allowing us to come here. The work that they do here is very special. It needs flexibility, it needs personalised arrangements, it needs a custom-built employment design and that is exactly what Australian Workplace Agreements do. I'll be happy to answer any questions.
JOURNALIST:
Just today, the unions are sticking up for Cancer Council workers. They say they're being asked to sign an agreement saying it reduces their conditions, 3.4 per cent extra working hours, cutting shift penalties and sick leave and a pay rise of just over one per cent over the next five years, well that's less than inflation. Are there still problems that you need to iron out?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don't accept, I never accept now, on face value, claims made by unions about these things because I've seen over the last six months a great majority of their shock, horror stories proved wrong. I will get all of the details of that and either Mr Andrews or I will respond. But in the past they have made allegations that have been found to be wrong and I'm not going to accept that allegation on face value.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister do you think the union campaign against the IR changes is beginning to fizzle out?
PRIME MINISTER:
I will leave that to the commentators and those who write about these things. All I know is that these changes have now been operating for six months and all the predictions of horror and despair have not been realised. Employment has continued to go up, wages have continued to rise, strikes have fallen and I just point to the facts. We will go on explaining the value of these changes and how beneficial they are to the Australian people. The question of whether the union campaign has run out of puff or is getting a second wind, well that's for them and that is for others to write about. But we will continue with these reforms because they are good for the economy and they're good for the country.
JOURNALIST:
If, as you say, these AWAs have been so well accepted by the people and they're working, does that mean that the Government would look at extending them further and...
PRIME MINISTER:
No, no, we don't have any other changes of substance in mind. We've said that we would fine-tune the legislation, if that were needed, and we've already done that, but we are very happy with the choices people now have. We're not going to push AWAs on people, it's a matter for individual employers and employees to work out. Some employers like them, some don't. I spoke to a whole lot of employers last night at a gathering in Sydney and some of them have AWAs, some of them don't have them, some of them have a mix and that's what we should have. What I object to about Labor's policy is that they would deny the flexibility of AWAs to both employers and employees, and that's wrong.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, Petro Georgiou's concerned about the changes to citizenship laws and he made the point yesterday that many Australians don't necessarily have a great grasp of English but have all along been model citizens. Do you think he has a point there given his objections to the citizenship laws and the proposed amendments?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well people should remember that we're not proposing to require people to speak English when they come to Australia. We're not proposing to do that. We will always welcome people who can't speak a word of English when they arrive here. All we're asking is that people, at the time they become citizens, have a capacity in English and I think that's reasonable and I think there's a lot of support for that in the community.
JOURNALIST:
Can I ask you about Labor's plan today to force students to stay at school until year 12, can I have your reaction to that? And also, I mean, if that was ever to happen, what would it mean for the skills shortage?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I'm totally opposed to making it compulsory, that's wrong. Not everybody ought to stay at school to year 12. What we need to do is expand the choices in the later years at school, that's one of the reasons why we introduced the Australian Technical Colleges because what Australian Technical Colleges will do, and there's one of these in this part of Adelaide, what Australian Technical Colleges will do is to give people the choice of staying for those last two years with an emphasis on trade skills with a view to getting an apprenticeship. And I'd say to Dr Emerson that I welcome very much his support for school-based apprenticeships. I've supported them for a long time. It's a pity he hadn't given that advice to the Labor Governments of Western Australia and New South Wales both of which have been dragging their feet on school-based apprenticeships. So more choice in the later years at school, but you shouldn't make it mandatory. That would be a mistake and it would be unfair on some young people who are not really desirous of staying at school until year 12 and are certainly not desirous of going to university.
JOURNALIST:
If that was to happen, Labor's plan was to go ahead. What would it mean down the track for the country in terms of skill shortages?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it's always bad to force conformity on people. What you need is choice. And we have to get away from the idea in this country that the only career path is to go to university. We have to get a situation in this country where a technical qualification is as prized an asset as a university degree, that's what we've got to do, and you don't achieve that by mandating year 12 education. You do that by giving people who want to stay at school longer more encouragement. You perhaps look at ways of helping people, who don't now have qualifications up to year 12, to get them. But you don't force people to do it. That is a bad principle and it won't work.
JOURNALIST:
Given the prospects of possible Papuans coming, attempting to come to Australia, is there any intention by the Government to possibly revisit the migration bill that you put forward in the last couple of months?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we don't have any intention of looking at that bill again, I've put that aside. And we'll deal with any other issues in accordance with the existing law. Thank you.
[ends]