House debates Questions without Notice
Workplace Relations
Brendan O'Connor Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
2:38 pm
My question is to the Prime Minister. Can the Prime Minister provide any evidence to substantiate the claim that slashing penalty rates will increase employment opportunities?
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
The honourable member continues with his leader's scare campaign about slashing penalty rates.
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Tony Smith Speaker
Members on my left! The member for Jagajaga will cease interjecting.
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
Trade unions for many years—
Ms Macklin interjecting—
Tony Smith Speaker
The member for Jagajaga will cease interjecting. She is warned.
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
as the Treasurer observed, have negotiated changes to penalty rates as part of a package, where the base rate during the week has been increased or other conditions have been increased. This happens all the time—that is what enterprise bargaining is all about. That is what Paul Keating cited as one of the examples—
Brendan O'Connor Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
Where is the evidence?
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
The honourable member calls out 'all the evidence'. 'Where is the evidence?' he asks. What I say to the honourable member is this: he should speak—
Ms Chesters interjecting —
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
He should speak to the Manager of Opposition Business, who was formerly an official with the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Union, which has negotiated numerous variations to penalty rates on the weekend. He should ask him, with his in-depth industrial experience whether the SDA regrets it.
Ms Rishworth interjecting—
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
He should ask the member for Port Adelaide whether the negotiation about penalty rates in South Australia between the SDA and Business SA was worthwhile.
Mr Brendan O'Connor interjecting—
Tony Smith Speaker
The member for Gorton will cease interjecting. The member for Corangamite.
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
The honourable member for Gorton runs the risk of being expelled from the Labor Party if he continues to be so helpful. I have never had a better straight man than this one, I can tell you, Mr Speaker! He says that he should ask us. Well, what we say is: when employees and employers choose to renegotiate their arrangements voluntarily and willingly, we in the Liberal Party assume—
Ms Chesters interjecting—
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
that they know what they are doing. We actually do not tell people how to run their businesses or how to negotiate things. The honourable member for Gorton should stop hanging out solely with the CFMEU. He has to get out a bit—talk to the SDA, talk to the other unions represented here—and he will find out that it is a big, wide world out there and people are a lot more practical than he gives them credit for.