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PRIME MINISTER
EMBARGOED 4pm
STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON PJ. KEATING, MP
PROTECTING AUSTRALIAN EMPLOYEES
Over the last eight weeks the Commonwealth has become Increasingly concerned
about the threat to social cohesion and economic recovery posed by attempts to cancel
the award. systcm:
The Kennett Government is the first to adopt the Hewson agenda in Lndustrial
rtelations. The Commonwealth Government has put Australia's industrial relations system on to
an irreversible path towards workplace bargaining.
This is the key to ensuring that Australia does make the big productivity advance in
the 1990s.
Nearly 600 enterprise agrecments have already been registered with the Australian
-Industrial Relations Commission and the Government is well on the way to having at
least half the workforce currently under federal awards in enterprise bargains by the
middle of next year.
And these cnterprise agreements will be secured through eoopcration not intimidation.
If we have learnt anything in the last 10 years it is that the most successful economics
are those that harness the power of competition and reform with cooperation.
Intimidation leads to dislocation and the intransigcnt protection of entrenched rights.
The Kennett Government is taking Australia down the confrontation route which will
simply derail the reform of industrial relations in this country.
The Victorian Govcrnment's decision to cancel the award systcm and force more than
six hundred thousand Victorians on to individual contracts has already fractured the
long period of irdustrial harmony which has seen the lowest national strike rate for
thirty years. It has disturbed the confidence of investors.
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For Victoria itself, which accounts for 27 per cent of Australian output, a third of
Australian manufacturing output and 17 per cent of our exports, the industrial conflict
has had a devastating effect on confidence. Classified job advertisements in Thc Age
have fallen. DEETs indicator of skilled job vacancics released yestcrday showed rises
for other states but no movement in Victoria.
As yesterday's National Accounts figures showed recovery is well under way in
Australia and we have been growing at an annual rate of around 2 per cent for 4
quarters. It is a measure of the Government's accomplishments that this has been done In a
situation where most countries are growing much more slowly than this or are still
contracting. However, Australia's growth rate must be increased further and we must build on what
has already been achieved.
On this score, industrial conflict in Victoria is putting the entire Australian . recovery at
risk,
The Victorian Government's decision also highlights the way in which the Hewson
agenda in industrial relations obstructs reform in Australian workplaces. The
Commonwealth has adopted a policy of encouraging workplace bargaining, with
award wages and conditions operating as a safetynet to catch those employees who are
unable to reach agreements with their employers.
Arbitrated minimium wage outcomes are becoming less relevant to actual wage
outcomes, but the Commonwealth believes that the provision of a permanent and
reliable safety net, and of rights to~ plqteetion_ against unfair dismissal, are an essential
foundation upon which reform in industrial relations should proceed.
The Commonwealth's assessment is that conflict between the Victorian Government
and Victorian employees is now settling into a dangerous deadlock.
The Commonwealth Government has decided to legislate to offer Australians who find
themselves in the circumstances produced by the Victorian industrial relations
legislation the. safcty net of federal awards, and the enterprise bargaining structure of
the federal legislation.
This is to ensure that we continue to make progress in making the labour market more
flexible and that we don't get side tracd into pointless and destructive industrial
disputes.
The safety net of minimum wages will be available both thirough federal awards, and
through a new provision which will allow the Commission to determine minimum
wages in a wider set of circumstances than is currently possible.
The Commonwealth Government has therefore also decided to legislate under
internationa~ sonyti o to guarantee rights to equal pay for work of equal value by
men and women, and to protection against unfair dismissal, two national standards
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which the Victorian Government does not guarantee and which are most threatened by
its legislation.
These protections will be guaranteed undcr the external affairs power of the
constitution and R1O conventions setting international standards in these areas.
Since the ILO convention governing unfair dismissal has to yet be ratified by the
Australian Government, we will consult with the States and with the industrial parties
on its implementation.
The Government intends to have most of the legislative provisions available by the
time Victorian awards are abolished on March 1 next year.
Consideration is being given to legislation protecting some other internationally
recognised standards, such as annual leave, maternity and parental leave and hours of.
-work,.
This new legislation is not designed to create new national standards, to lay a new
safety net where one already exists, or to replace State systems offering conciliation
and compulsory arbitration.
All awards created as a result of the legislation will continue to be subject to the
provision that they can be varied by enterprise bargaining, so long as therc is clear
evidence that the employees consent to the variation, and the new arrangement does
not leave them worse off in total than the old arrangcment.
Improved acccss to fedcral awards will be facilitated by an immediate change to the
objects of the IR act to encourage Access t-oawards for employees who are not now
under federal awards and arc not within the scope of a state arbitral jurisdiction.
The AIRC will be given the authority to determine minimum rates, whether or not an
interstate industrial dispute exists, for an employee or a group of employees who do
not have that protection.
The Commission will be given the power to award e~ qual pay.
The termination and redundancy provisions sought by the Commonwealth are those
specified in the relevant ILO convention. These include the requirement for an
employer to offer a valid reason for dismissal, Severance pay, and appeal to an
impartial tribunal against unfair dismissal.
The legislation will guarantee the Australian Government's charter for industrial
relations which I announced on August 31
At that time I gave 11 undertakings to Australian employees, some of which the
Victorian legislation has since put at risk
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Among other commimrrcnts in the Govcrniments charter for industrial relations we
undertook to keep a safety net under the low paid and poorly organised
to makc sure workplace agreements are fair
to enforce agreements with simple procedures
not to force employees off awards
to allow employees to be covered by u nions
In my vicw thes rights cannot be guaranteed for Victorians under the Kennett
Government's Industrial legislation. The legislation which I have announced today is
Intended to fulfil our undertaking, and to safeguard the system of enterprise bargaining
underpinned by award minimums which is successfully transforming workplaces
operating under Commonwealth legislation.
The system of awards is the safety net which protects thc minimum wages and
working conditions of Australian enhployces. It is the Australian Governments belief
that all Australians arc entitled to this form of protection, and the changes announced
today are designed to guarantee them.
CANBERRA 2 December 1992