1. Home
  2. Hansard & Papers
  3. Legislative Assembly
  4. 20 September 2001
Contact Print this page Reduce font size Increase font size

Employee Entitlements

Printing Tips | Print selected text | Full Day Hansard Transcript         « Prior Item | Item 17 of 52 | Next Item »

About this Item
Speakers - Burton Ms Cherie; Carr Mr Bob
Business - Questions Without Notice


    EMPLOYEE ENTITLEMENTS

Page: 16990

    Miss BURTON: My question without notice is to the Premier. How is the Government working with other States to better protect workers entitlements?

    Mr CARR: Jackie Kelly said that the collapse of Ansett is a mere blip.

    Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the Leader of the National Party to order.

    Mr CARR: Add to that all of the other collapses under the helm of the Federal Government—HIH, One.Tel, one after the other, and thousands of people out of work—and there are still ad hoc responses to the big question of workers entitlements. Ansett goes down and there was no scheme to protect the entitlements of the workers, so the Federal Government had to make up something on the run. It put a tax on airline tickets, a further blow to the tourism industry of Australia.

    Mr SPEAKER: Order! There are too many Opposition members wandering around the Chamber. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will remain silent.

    Mr CARR: Tomorrow the New South Wales Minister for Industrial Relations, along with Ministers from the other Labor States, will put forward a plan at a meeting of the Industrial Relations Ministers Council in Queensland. The whole nation, with the exception of the only remaining Liberal Government—South Australia—is in agreement. Their view is that the Commonwealth's idea of ad hoc responses has to be thrown out. The Labor governments are intent on establishing a plan that, first, will ensure that 100 per cent of all entitlements are paid to workers where a company goes under. That means unpaid wages, accrued annual leave, long service leave, termination and redundancy payments and superannuation. That is the first point in the combined approach of the Labor governments.

    The second point is that our plan should cover the workers in all States and Territories. It is a truly national plan, as any such plan for securing workers entitlements must be. The third point is vital as far as I am concerned: the plan must be funded by employers, not by taxpayers. The Liberal-National party proposition, which is that every time a company goes down the taxpayer has to pay the workers entitlements, is not sustainable. That approach was forced on taxpayers by another ad hoc response to the collapse of a company chaired by John Howard's brother. That is its genesis. The Government's approach will be supported by reforms to the Corporations Law.

    The Commonwealth's approach is a pathetic substitute for a genuine national scheme that raises its funds from an equitable and small levy across all employers. I hope that all members of the House will support that approach, and I challenge the Opposition to draw the line with the failed, bankrupt approach taken on workers entitlements by the national Government and support the stand taken by all other State administrations in Australia with the exception of the South Australian administration.


Last modified 31/03/2009 15:47:21   :   Update this page