Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

They laugh as if they have been very convincing today. They haven't been at all convincing, because you can't convince people of things that are not correct. What I can do is talk about what the bill does do. It is a bill designed not to ensure that people have less—rather, that people have more. Everything in this bill is designed to ensure that people have more money, more wages and better conditions.

Let's have a look. The Labor Party have made a decision—and that's inside their ambit—to oppose the bill in its entirety. What does that mean that Labor are opposing? Labor are now opposing tougher civil penalties to stamp out wage theft. If you're a worker who has been the subject of underpayment, you are supposed to believe that the Labor members are on your side, except that they are opposing tougher civil penalties to stamp out wage theft. Labor are opposing the institution of the first ever Commonwealth criminal penalty for wage theft. That's what their position on this bill is. Labor will oppose creating a new small-claims stream for the recovery of wage payments.

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