Andrews Flip-Flops on Awards: Smith

Date: 19 July 2005

Industrial Relations Minister Kevin Andrews can't make up his mind on what will be protected under new workplace laws, according to Opposition Industrial Relations spokesman, Stephen Smith.

In responding to a Question and Answer interview with the Herald Sun on 8 July, the Minister for Workplace Relations, Kevin Andrews, stated the following:

Q - Will entitlements be reduced in awards where sick, annual or parental leave exceeds the basic standard?

A - Awards will be adjusted to the Fair Pay and Conditions Standard. (See attached)

The Howard Government's changes will remove the current no disadvantage test and leave four statutory employment conditions within the so-called Fair Pay and Conditions Standard. Included in those conditions are entitlements for annual, sick and parental leave.

Minister Andrews has said that the minimum standard for annual leave will be four weeks and for sick leave will be eight days per year.

One reading of Minister Andrews' reply to the Herald Sun is that under these changes, any award that entitles employees to more than four weeks annual leave or more than eight days sick leave will be adjusted downwards to the Howard Government's new standard.

When asked about this late last week in the context of Victorian nurses, Minister Andrews' office said that that won't be the case.

Over 60 000 nurses in Victoria are employed under the Nurses (Victorian Health Services) Award 2000. This award entitles Victorian nurses to six weeks annual leave and 21 days sick leave.

Now, however, it appears from the 15 July online journal Workforce that Minister Andrews' office is singing two tunes, with a spokesperson commenting that it:

...did not think drafters had worked out whether award conditions coming over and above the standard would be lost. (See attached)

Minister Andrews must now say one way or the other, which it is.

Are award conditions over the new Howard minimums in or out?

With Kevin Andrews flip-flopping on the detail of the Government's industrial relations changes, it's no surprise that the Prime Minister has seen it necessary to intervene directly by announcing the creation of the "Kevin Andrews Rescue Taskforce", headed by Andrew Robb.

When the President of the Business Council of Australia, Hugh Morgan, says he can't fathom the detail of the Howard Government's extreme industrial relations changes, it is clear that the Minister needs all the help he can get.

As well, the commencement on the weekend of taxpayer-funded radio advertisements only reinforces the lack of real detail about the Government's extreme and unfair industrial relations changes. (Listen at: http://www.workplace.gov.au/workplace/Category/PolicyReviews/WorkplaceRelationsReforms/Advertisingforradioandpress.htm)

The Government's advertisements provide no more information than that which John Howard and Kevin Andrews have been telling us for free: that people will be worse off under the Government's extreme and ideological industrial relations changes.

Like the newspaper ads, the radio advertisements fail to deal with significant matters which will reduce people's entitlements and conditions.

They fail to address in any way the Government's extreme unfair dismissal proposals. They fail to guarantee that nearly 4 million Australians won't turn up to work each day not knowing whether they are going to be sacked, and sacked unfairly without any remedy.

They fail to guarantee up to 2 million Australians entirely dependent upon the minimum wage that they won't be worse off under the Government's changes.

And the advertisements fail to explain that the current conditions and entitlements are judged against 20 allowable matters, not the four matters proposed as the new baseline by the Howard Government.

It is clear that the more the Australian community comes to appreciate these changes, the less they like them.

Under John Howard's industrial relations changes, Australian families have nothing to look forward to except having their wages reduced, entitlements and conditions stripped, and their safety nets removed.

For further information

Contact:	Ashley Wells, Office of Stephen Smith
Phone:	(02) 6277 4108

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