Bob Day
Former Senator for South Australia. Former National President of the Housing Industry Association. Current Federal Director of the Australian Family Party.
It was said during the 1920s that Prohibition was terrible – but it was better than no alcohol at all. There is much we can learn from that observation.
Similarly, I was once asked by a trade union official, “Do you want a no-strike clause, or do you want no strikes?” Again, reality trumps perception.
The perception in Australia is that we are free. The reality is somewhat different.
As goes the oft-quoted line by Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, ‘When I use a word, it means whatever I choose it to mean’.
The two words ‘independent’ and ‘contractor’ should, of course, mean precisely what they say, not what the government says they mean.
Independent: self-reliant, self-sufficient, free thinking, self-governing, synonymous with freedom, the capacity to choose.
Contractor: someone who contracts, a producer, sanctity of contract as one of the key pillars of our common law system, the principle that people who sign contracts are expected to keep their word and honour their undertakings.
As we know however, there is a large and complicated legal, economic and regulatory framework surrounding independent contracting – who is, what is, where is, when is and how is independent contracting permissible?
Independent contractors are the most innovative and resourceful of Australia's workers
First and foremost, it must be stated that human beings shouldn’t have to jump through a myriad of hoops just because they choose to work differently to someone else.
An individual who is able to freely enter into a relationship with another person in order to accomplish that which neither party could achieve by acting alone, is a situation which should be an everyday occurrence.
It is an occurrence of profound moral significance.
Every major thinker who has written about the foundations of a free society has understood the fundamental nexus between the freedom of the individual, freedom of contract and a free society which supports those freedoms.
Where freedom is unknown, where private property is insecure, where economic life is centrally controlled, there we find that the gap between rich and poor is wider. The rich are richer, the poor are poorer – and much more numerous – than in those societies which have inherited the rule of law, especially the security of property and the sanctity of contract.
Independent contractors are proud of who they are and what they do. However, we know from centuries of experience, we must be vigilant in protecting those traditions.
Despite some bi-partisan support for many of the changes that have helped free up the Australian economy over the past three decades, Australia’s labour market has gone the other way. It remains highly regulated and is now a serious burden on our economic life.
Even with many years of coalition governments, Australia’s labour market is anything but free.
We still have a system of wage regulation that condemns many young people to unemployment – particularly the regulation of entry level apprenticeships.
We impose conditions on dismissal that inflict unemployment on the unskilled and the disabled – ‘an impediment to fire, is an impediment to hire’ – and we shackle both employers and employees with regulations that impose significant financial burdens on both parties.
There is a large and complicated legal, economic and regulatory framework surrounding independent contracting
The important point to remember is that independent contracting does not break through the existing Industrial Relations system - it breaks with it. It is a world of work with a culture based on freedom, respect and mutual benefits. And while it draws some support from statutes, it relies for its primary support on the common law.
Mutually agreeable contracts allow the parties to jettison old compulsory entitlements and obligations in favour of all-inclusive remuneration arrangements.
Independent contracting recognizes that people have a God-given right to work as hard as they like, for as long as they like, in order to achieve the things they want in life.
What possible basis can there be to render unlawful a common law contract – entered by willing parties – to achieve a lawful and productive outcome that is in the self-determined interest of each of the parties, other than some paternalistic belief that the parties themselves aren’t capable of knowing what is in their best interest?
No individual can possess either the knowledge or selflessness to make these kinds of decisions for somebody else. Independent contractors absolutely reject the idea that they are unable to determine for themselves what is in their best interest.
Independent contractors are the most innovative and resourceful of Australia’s workers. They bear more risk and show more courage than just about any other sector of the work force. We must apply those same great virtues to agitating for labour market reform and protection of our own precious liberties.
This article was originally published by Liberty Itch.
