What does the change of government mean for IEU members?
The recent federal election result confirmed that Australian voters are ready for change.
Throughout the campaign, the Australian union movement sought to foreground key issues for workers, including:
the scourge of insecure work
the urgent need for a significant lift to the minimum wage, and for salary increases in chronically underpaid industries such as aged care
Australia’s unacceptable gender pay-gap
gendered violence and women’s safety
the cost-of-living crunch
the crisis in aged care
unaffordable housing
lack of access to affordable quality childhood education and care.
It is with genuine relief that we can all put the retrograde paralysis, sleaze, blame-shifting and self-interest of the Morrison era behind us. It is hard not to believe that this change of government is a real win for IEU members and for all working people in Australia. In particular, we expect to see real change for women, for workers in precarious employment, and for those employed in crucial but historically undervalued caring work.
In politics, however, promises do not equate to outcomes; it pays not to get too excited until we see evidence of real progress.
The IEU Victoria Tasmania backed a change of government at the federal election. Now that this has occurred, we hope to see significant changes of policy on issues vital to our membership.
Education
Labor pledged $440 million to improve ventilation, upgrade buildings and provide better mental health support in schools.
In a more questionable move, it also promised $146.5 million over four years to attract 5000 high-achieving school leavers to enter an education degree with payment of up to $12,000 a year. The High Achieving Teacher Program will now be bolstered to allow 1500 professionals from other fields to retrain as teachers. This recruitment strategy may produce some results, but it fails to address the greatest issue facing Australian education – the growing teacher shortage. Teachers are leaving the profession in record numbers, large numbers of graduates last no longer than five years before departing the sector and a recent survey found a staggering 59% of current teachers said they intended to leave the profession.
Labor’s proposals misunderstand the reasons for this crisis.
Unmanageable workloads, poor working conditions and the de-motivating effects of a test-driven education system are the key drivers of the exodus. Teachers feel “demoralised, exhausted and undervalued”, especially since they were left on the frontline of the pandemic long after the rest of society tried to forget that it existed. After three years of increasing stress, many teachers, support staff and principals are at breaking point.
Labor must address the root causes of declining teacher retention and overhaul working conditions in education if it wants to arrest the startling decline in teacher numbers, and therefore the quality of education for Australia’s children.
Respect and equity for women
The ALP has promised to implement all 55 recommendations of Respect@Work Report delivered by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins in January 2020. These measures target harassment and aim to foster respect in Australian workplaces. The new government is also committed to extending ten days’ paid family and domestic violence leave to all Awards and making gender pay equity an objective of the Fair Work Act. Labor’s Fair Pay and Conditions for Working Women policy aims to address inequity in lower-paid, women-dominated industries such as education and care.
The Albanese government’s pledge to make childcare more affordable offers crucial support to working mums and parents, children, and early childhood educators.
Women have carried a disproportionate load during the pandemic, enduring insecure work, caring burdens, and increasing rates of domestic and family violence. A new outlook which grapples seriously with these issues is a good thing for our union and for our country.
First Nations Australians
It was reassuring to see that the new Prime Minister immediately made a priority of implementing a referendum on a First Nations Voice to Parliament. We fully support this initiative of the traditional owners of this country who came together five years ago to offer the unifying Uluru Statement of the Heart.
Labor has committed $14 million to teach local Indigenous languages and culture in 60 primary schools. The Know Your Country campaign called it a “great first step” but is seeking an undertaking to expand the program to all Australian schools.
Industrial Relations
Proposed changes to Industrial Relations policies will benefit working Australians. Labor has promised to back a 5.1% increase to the minimum wage to keep pace with inflation, and a "rebalance" of Fair Work Commission appointments. It promises to give the industrial umpire power to address "employee-like" gig-economy work and redefine casual employment, abolish politically motivated agencies like the ABCC and ROC, and make work more secure by establishing "same job, same pay" rules.
Labor also promised a labour market white paper to foster "secure work and higher wages" and an employment summit to boost job security and rejuvenate the bargaining system.
LGBTIQ rights
After a questionable performance during debates on the ill-fated Religious Discrimination Bill, Labor has vowed LGBTQIA students will be protected under their leadership, not hung out to dry as they were by the coalition’s bungled legislation. However, it is unclear whether another iteration of that Bill is in the offing, and we await a clear assurance that the new government intends to support and extend discrimination protections for staff in faith-based employment.
Climate change
Millions of Australians made their climate concerns heard in this election this issue by voting for the Greens and ‘Teal’ candidates. Labor should take heed. It reduced its proposed emissions cut from last election from 45% to 43% by 2030, and its proposed measures look anaemic alongside these parties. Labor has promised to put emissions limits on Australia’s 215 largest industrial polluters, and to pump $20 billion into the electricity grid to support an increased supply of renewable energy. We hope that the huge swings towards candidates offering real action on climate change spurs more urgent policies – at the very least it will force the government to negotiate on its policies with a powerful crossbench.
---
We expect a lot, and we cannot afford complacency. A change of government is not an end in itself, it is just another step in the campaign to build a better, fairer society. As part of the nearly 2 million-strong Australian union movement, we must hold this new government to account and push it to achieve more for our members, our families and our students.