Prime Minister Scott Morrison won't guarantee that workers won't be worse off under his push to overhaul workplace relations, insisting the public debate needs to move beyond "black and white discussions".
Key points:
- The Government wants unions, employer groups and business to agree to new workplace laws
- The Prime Minister says it needs to be a "genuine process" to benefit all parties
- ACTU boss Sally McManus says the unions will participate but only to benefit workers
Mr Morrison used a speech to the National Press Club on Tuesday to announce Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter would lead a new process bringing together unions, employer groups and businesses to try to change the current system, which described as "not fit for purpose".
"This needs to be a genuine process where people come together and give it a real go to see how we can make businesses work better for employees and employers," he told AM.
"We're providing that opportunity, we're bringing people together to create jobs — and that's what we need right now."
Mr Morrison has distanced his planned overhaul of Australia's industrial relations system from the Accord agreements of the 1980s.
Under those agreements, the government of the day offered workers family payments, childcare and the introduction of Medicare in return for restricted wage demands.
But Mr Morrison said there were major differences between his proposal and the agreements reached between unions and the Hawke and Keating governments.
"This isn't some reheat of a process done by a former Labor government, it's not an Accord, it's a new process, it's about bringing people together to see what they can agree on," he said.
The Government's most recent attempt to crackdown on what it sees as union misconduct has been stuck in the Senate after failing to get crossbench support last year.
Mr Morrison said the Government would no longer pursue that crackdown, dropping it in what he called an act of goodwill to encourage union involvement.
Labor welcomed the backdown but said Mr Morrison's announcement lacked substance.
Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus said she was willing to listen to the Government and businesses.
She said she hoped new goodwill, struck between herself and Mr Porter during the coronavirus pandemic, could lead to an agreement on pay and conditions.
"We've worked together in a crisis and sometimes do you do forge good working relationships," Ms McManus told RN Breakfast.
"We don't agree with each other on a whole lot of issues, but he listens to us and we listen to him."
Ms McManus said she hoped common ground could be found but wouldn't agree to anything that would lead to workers being worse off.
"We're never going to go into negotiations and see them go backwards in pay and conditions," she said.
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2020-05-26 23:36:45Z
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