Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the government's amendment but also to respond to the amendments just flagged by the opposition. If you ever wanted to see that the Liberal Party and National Party were wedded to low wages as a design feature of the Australian economy, you see that again in this. They don't even want to deal with a bill that, at its heart, recognises that we've got to get wages moving again in this country. But do they want to debate the bill? No, they want to defer the Senate consideration of legislation which is all about trying to get wages moving again. You are so wedded to low wages as a design feature of the economy that you're even trying to defer legislation which this government clearly has a mandate for. We are very happy to have a proper inquiry, but let us be clear. We know what a 1 March date means in terms of legislation—