House debates

Thursday, 2 March 2017

Questions without Notice

Workplace Relations

2:25 pm

Photo of Bill ShortenBill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Margarita is a single mother with two children who regularly works Sundays at a hotel. The Sunday penalty rates help Margarita put food on the table and buy shoes for her kids. She stands to lose thousands in take-home pay. She says, 'Everything is getting more difficult. The bills go up, so why is our wage going down? Where's the balance?' Can the Prime Minister explain why he is willing to intervene in the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal and the CFA decision but will do nothing to stop Margarita's pay cut?

2:26 pm

Photo of Malcolm TurnbullMalcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

The lady that the honourable member refers to, Margarita, may be affected by the penalty rate change in the manner he describes—

Ms Chesters interjecting

Photo of Tony SmithTony Smith (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The member for Bendigo is warned!

Mr Laundy interjecting

The member for Reid is warned!

Photo of Malcolm TurnbullMalcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

We have learned not to take uncritically assertions of fact from the opposition. The fact is that the Leader of the Opposition, again and again, stated that he would support the decision of the Fair Work Commission. He gave them the reference to look at penalty rates. When he did that, do we think that the Leader of the Opposition imagined that the Fair Work Commission was going to increase Sunday penalty rates? Was that his plan?

Mr Champion interjecting

The honourable member for Wakefield says no. He obviously must have felt they would stay exactly the same. What is the point of asking for a review if penalty rates are going to be unchanged? Then, just before the 2013 election, the same Leader of the Opposition, then the Minister for Workplace Relations, promised to give $300,000 to COSBOA, the small business peak body, to argue their case in the Fair Work Commission. Did he imagine that they were going to go in there and say, 'Our members want to pay higher penalty rates'? I do not think so. Did he think they were going to bother to go there and say they should be unchanged? He knew what COSBOA was going to say and he was going to pay them to say it. The hypocrisy of this Leader of the Opposition strains the boundaries of traditional political practice. He has moved into the post-truth environment with a vengeance.

Ms Catherine King interjecting

Photo of Tony SmithTony Smith (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The member for Ballarat is warned! The member for Ballarat is interjecting while I am warning her. The member for Lalor is also warned. She has been interjecting continuously for the last couple of days, but particularly loudly today. I remind the member for Bendigo that she has already been warned and she will not be warned again.