Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Bushby for his question. Yet again, as we discussed yesterday, the Senate will be aware—and Senator Collins is clearly aware—that there has been a large amount of publicity recently regarding penalty rates in enterprise agreements. It is particularly concerning that hundreds of thousands of workers and a large number of employers are paid less on a Sunday than they would receive under the relevant award.

An analysis presented to the Senate's committee on education and employment looked at approximately 108 enterprise agreements that large employers made with various unions. Guess what? Of these 108 agreements, 70 set out pay rates less than the award rate for Sunday work. Can you believe it? That is for at least one group of employees. Now, of these 70 agreements, 55 of them—or 79 per cent—covered at least one union. That's right—79 per cent of those agreements negotiated by a union cut Sunday penalty rates. This is the interesting thing: these are the same unions that are currently running a campaign called Save Our Weekend. The interesting thing about that slogan is what is missing from it: Save our Weekend 'from us'. Because, the last time I checked, for those on the other side when a big union and a big employer do a deal to cut or abolish penalty rates, that is okay, but when the independent Fair Work Commission that they put together and appointed does it for small business, suddenly all bets are off.