PRIME MINISTER 39/ 95
JOINT STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P J KEATING MP,
AND THE ACTU.
Today the ACTU and the Government reaffirmed their Accord partnership
and their joint pursuit of progressive economic, social and industrial relations
reform. The meeting noted the significant success in meeting the targets set out in
Accord VII, signed in February 1993. At that time a commitment was made to
the creation of at least 500,000 jobs over the next term of a Labor
Government. This goal was met in March 1995, a year ahead of schedule,
with the number of extra jobs now being 550,000.
Accord VII also had an inflation goal of price increases generally not
exceeding those of our major trading partners. This target is being met
comfortably, and the on-going success on the inflation side was confirmed
fast week with the release of data showing that the underlying rate of price
increase continues to be lower than 2 per cent.
The trend to wage fixing through bargaining at industry and workplace levels
is an essential part of the current Accord, and the sustained, orderly and
accelerating movements in these directions are a significant feature of
contemporary industrial relations reform.
Over the last two years an additional 30 per cent of workers on Federal
Awards have registered enterprise agreements, with the number of
employees in these arrangements now standing at 1.44 million, or nearly
per cent of all workers under Federal Awards. The Accord partners regret the
relative lack of progress in enterprise bargaining under most State systems,
which itself is evidence generally of the lack of strong leadership outside the
-Federal sphere.
Safety net adjustments in the award system have ensured that all workers
who are not advantaged by the movement towards enterprise-based
bargaining are able to be protected from real income reductions and the loss
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compromised, even with a significant reorientation towards decentralised
negotiation. The Government remains committed to ensuring that the needs
of women, migrants and young people are adequately safeguarded under
enterprise bargaining
Further improvements in the social wage have been achieved through
expansions of child-care, the new parenting allowance which was announced
in Working Nation and begins on July 1, and the Government's enhanced
assistance to the long-term unemployed through the implementation of the
Job Compact a commitment without parallel internationally.
As stressed in Accord VII, there is a need to continue building a solid
foundation for better retirement incomes, and progress has been maintained
in this area. The introduction of award superannuation combined with the
Superannuation Guarantee arrangements has meant that there has been a
doubling in the proportion of workers covered. Once the luxury of the
wealthy, superannuation is now a right not a privilege for all. Of course,
the Accord partners remain committed to the maintenance of an adequate
age pension as a safety net.
The Government and the ACTU will work towards establishing Accord VIII
shortly after the Budget is delivered. Like all previous Accord arrangements,
it will emphasise social protection in the context of progressive and efficient
economic and industrial relations reforms. Matters of detail and specific
commitments will depend on the initiatives of the Budget.
In the lead-up to the Budget, the ACTU and the Government reaffirm their
resolve to sustain reductions in unemployment, and to reduce long-term
unemployment in particular through the vigorous implementation of the
policies of Working Nation. A further minimum jobs target will be announced
in the new Accord.
Controlling inflation remains a priority of the Accord partners, and this
Statement further endorses the need to keep price increases at low levels to
protect workers' living standards. There will be a continuing commitment to
maintaining low inflation as achieved in Accord VII.
The need to boost both national savings and retirement incomes and to
achieve increased levels and coverage of superannuation are crucial
elements of medium-term economic planning. But in so doing the
implications for the contemporary living standards of lower paid workers must
be taken into account.
Similarly, progress is expected in other areas of the social wage.
Specifically, the Government has already acknowledged the case for publiclyfinanced
maternity leave, a position supported by the Accord partners. The
Government will be responding in this area in the Budget, and remains
committed to the implementation of progressive social wage improvements.
There are times when economic circumstances demand that the stance of the
Government's budget policy be reviewed. It is understood that this is such a
time and that the Budget needs to redress the overall balance between
outlays and receipts. However, the important bottom line must be that
revisions to fiscal arrangements show the utmost sensitivity to the needs of
the economically and socially disadvantaged.
Partnerships between governments and the representatives of workers, and
the substantial benefits that they deliver, should not be taken for granted.
What has been achieved over the last twelve years would not have come
about under the Federal Coalition. Future gains in the social wage, and fair
and orderly transitions to more efficient working environments, would not be
possible under the Federal Coalition.
The Liberal and National parties have shown no interest in or understanding
of the Accord processes. They have opposed almost all wage increases
since 1983, they have rejected socially innovative projects to assist the most
disadvantaged, and they have consistently failed to support the
Government's progressive and long-range planning for retirement incomes.
Of most concern for Australian workers and families is the Coalition's
approach to industrial relations matters, in particular their hostility to the
award system and their advocacy of individual work contracts. Such
individual contracts would be implemented under the Coalition without any
guarantees of leave loadings, redundancy payments, superannuation,
penalty rates and paid holidays, and must mean lower rewards for the
majority of workers.
The Australian incomes policy is perhaps the most successful social,
economic and industrial relations reform partnership anywhere in the world.
Its achievements illustrate the extraordinary potential for progressive
improvement in the organisation of and rewards from work, and how these
changes can be enacted without sacrificing the traditional Australian concern
with a fair go for all.
CANBERRA 1 MAY 1995