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

April was a notable month last year because that was the month in which the Leader of the Opposition gave his absolutely unqualified, unequivocal pledge to Neil Mitchell that he would support, commit to, abide by the decision of the Fair Work Commission on penalty rates. He was given every opportunity to find some wriggle room. He was given every opportunity to change his mind. But he committed to it. That is the point.

He knows as well as every other member here, every other former union organiser on their side of the House, every former small business owner in this House—everybody knows that there is a trade-off between high penalty rates on weekends and ordinary rates and conditions during the rest of the week, and there is also the question of how many jobs are going to be available. You have Iain Ross, the President of the Fair Work Commission, a lifelong official of the Australian Congress of Trade Unions, one of the most highly respected trade union officials, put on there by the Labor Party, who justified the reduction in Sunday penalty rates how? Because, he said, it will make more jobs available on weekends and that means there will be more jobs available on weekends particularly for younger people. It will mean business owners will not have to operate their business themselves. They will be able to take people on. There will be more jobs and more hours. The Retail Traders Association estimates another 40,000 jobs would be available. So that was the decision.

It is obviously a long and complex examination: thousands of pages of evidence, hundreds of witnesses. COSBOA would have been funded by the Labor Party if they had had the chance, but they did not win the 2013 election. All of that evidence was considered by the independent tribunal. Just as Jennie George, former President of the ACTU, said in her letter to The Australian last week, the Leader of the Opposition was right to support the independence of the umpire during the election. He was right to commit to supporting it, but he is wrong now. He should be careful what he wishes for, because the foundation of the industrial relations system in Australia has been an independent umpire. The Labor Party has fought for that for years, they have defended it for years and now it has suited their purposes to throw it aside.

In conclusion, as far as the RSRT is concerned, its abolition was always our policy, and we carried it out. (Time expired)

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