Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source

As I have said on a number of occasions in this place, we as a government believe that the wages that are set in the Australian workplace relations environment should not be determined by the government but by the Fair Work Commission in the absence of workers and employers being able to come together in an enterprise agreement. What the Labor Party have not been able to explain to the attendants, to the security guards and to the grounds maintenance staff is why they did not intervene in relation to their wages.

Don't those on that side believe that the Fair Work Commission provides a sufficient safety net and a sufficient level of wages for these workers? The real reason that the Australian Labor Party is so interested in this matter is that these so-called guidelines, designed allegedly to protect workers, were more designed to protect trade unions, because the guidelines required these things: employees had to be provided with information about joining a union by union officials. It was also a requirement that union delegates attend all staff inductions and scheduled employee meetings—