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

Senator McAllister, I would have thought you would have known this, given your industrial background. It has never been the practice of Australian governments, either coalition or Labor, to propose a particular figure in the national minimum wage case. What the government asks the commission to do is to have regard to the overall economic circumstances and the likely impact on the economy of any particular increase in the minimum wage. More commonly than not, governments of both sides, like the Rudd and Gillard governments and the current government, have urged caution or restraint in imposing burdens on business, as your side of politics did when it was you making submissions as a government on the minimum wage. We certainly do not, however, support the $45 a week increase the ACTU has called for, because that would be irresponsible.