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

Well, Senator Polley, as I and others have pointed out to you and your colleagues many times in this chamber in recent months, the government absolutely supports the independence of the Fair Work Commission. And might I remind you that the Fair Work Commission was established by a Labor government on the basis that it would be independent. So, not only does the government support its independence; you should be supporting it, too, because you created it to be independent. We respect that; you obviously do not.

I am glad you asked me about 1 July 2017, because it gives me the opportunity to address some of the measures that will be coming into operation on 1 July 2017 that will make Australians' lives a lot better than they were. More than 232,000 more Australians will be in work on 1 July 2017 than were a year ago; 3.2 million small businesses, which employ 6.5 million Australians, will be the beneficiaries of the government's Enterprise Tax Plan as of 1 July, enabling them to pay better wages and to employ more employees. We will be implementing the bank levy on 1 July, ensuring that the banks make a greater contribution than they have been making to the budget. On 1 July our childcare reforms will come into operation, which will benefit about a million Australian families. We will have secured Australia's energy future, Senator Polley, because on— (Time expired)