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The Hon. GREG DONNELLY [11.03 p.m.]: As I got into the lift the other day the Leader of the Opposition, Peter Debnam, asked me about my lapel badge. He wanted to know what it said. I happily responded by saying, "Your Rights at Work—Worth Fighting For". He looked at me and said, "You're wasting your time; it's not registering with the voters. It's just not an issue." As I got out of the lift I told him that he was fundamentally mistaken and that the Coalition would wear WorkChoices around its neck like a millstone.
The voters of New South Wales are becoming increasing concerned about WorkChoices as the full impact of this pernicious legislation becomes clear. Tonight I will draw the attention of honourable members to a provision in the WorkChoices legislation that will see hundreds of thousands of New South Wales workers go into workplace relations free-fall on 28 March 2009. I suspect that no Opposition member in this House or the other place has heard about Notional Agreements Preserving State Awards [NAPSA]. When the WorkChoices legislation was enacted on 27 March this year, employees who were engaged by a corporation and who were covered by a New South Wales State award were automatically drawn into the Commonwealth industrial relations system. No choices, no options; it was automatic.
The wages and conditions of these workers are now protected by the new industrial instrument called NAPSA, but only for three years. What does this mean? It is very simple. NAPSA continues to operate for three years from the new legislation's commencement; that is, until 27 March 2009. Then it ceases, forever. At midnight on 27 March 2009, millions of workers throughout Australia will go from being protected by NAPSA to being legally entitled to only five minimum, legally enforceable conditions set out in the WorkChoices legislation. Those entitlements are: a basic rate of pay; a maximum of 38 ordinary working hours a week, although an agreement may provide for that figure to be averaged out over 12 months, plus "reasonable additional hours"; four weeks of paid annual leave a year; 10 days of paid personal or carer's leave, including sick leave, after 12 months of service, together with an additional two days of unpaid carer's leave and a further two days of paid compassionate leave for each "permissible occasion"; and 12 months of unpaid parental leave at the time of birth or adoption of a child. All the other entitlements and conditions contained in NAPSA will fall away and be unenforceable.
For millions of Australian workers, the five minimum conditions outlined will, in due course, become a maximum that employers will cap. That has already started to happen. If the change sounds dramatic, it is. Red circling entitlements and conditions for three years and then trashing them unilaterally is an act of destruction that will haunt the Liberal Party and The Nationals in both the State and Federal elections next year. The Liberal Party and The Nationals believed that if they introduced WorkChoices with this change occurring three years later, people would not notice. How very wrong they were! What workers throughout Australia have is a ticking time bomb counting down to 27 March 2009—a date deliberately set well after the next State and Federal elections. Millions of workers throughout Australia have already put 27 March 2009 in their diary. After that date, it will be them and their five minimum conditions.
Today's High Court decision is a serious body blow to what has been a decent and fair workplace relations system protecting Australian workers. The New South Wales Labor Government will continue to work to protect workers and their families. Today's decision confirms that the only thing standing between John Howard and New South Wales families is the New South Wales Labor Government. The Liberal Party and The Nationals in this State have completely misread the electorate on workplace relations. They will no doubt continue to misread the electorates' very deep and real concerns. On the 24 March next year they will wake up, but by then it will be too late.