George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I can confirm that you are wrong, Senator. That was not the purpose of the submission. As you know, Senator Cameron, or as you ought to know, the government did not make a submission in relation to the substantive hearing of the matter because we acknowledge that this is a matter for the Fair Work Commission to determine, an independent umpire established by your side of politics, not by the government. However, the government did make a submission limited to the question of transitional arrangements. The submission—and I can give you some information on that submission—was filed with the Fair Work Commission last Friday, and it stated that any final determination by the Fair Work Commission would, and I quote:

… implement transitional arrangements which ensure the positive employment benefits flow to businesses and the Australian economy in a timely fashion, while at the same time taking into consideration the potential economic impact and effects on employees—

and mitigating any hardship that may be experienced.

So, Senator Cameron, far from the government making a submission of the kind you suggested, the government made no submission on the substantive matter. It made a submission asking the Fair Work Commission, in arranging for and making orders in relation to transitional matters, to ensure that it took into consideration the potential economic impact and effects on employees, and mitigating any hardship that may be experienced. The submission also asked the Fair Work Commission to ensure that transitional arrangements were as simple as possible so that they could be implemented in a way that was easy to understand and to execute by both businesses and employees.