Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As I was saying last night, the work that the SDA have done has been about their members, and it's about ensuring that they get the compensation for the hours that they work. The Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Penalty and Overtime Rates) Bill 2025 adds a new section, 135A, to the Fair Work Act 2009 to establish a 'clear principle' that, when 'exercising its powers to make, vary or revoke modern awards', the Fair Work Commission must ensure that specified penalty or overtime rates are not reduced and that 'modern awards do not include terms that substitute employees' entitlements to receive penalty or overtime rates where those terms would have an effect of reducing the additional remuneration an employee would otherwise receive'.

The bill is designed to be simple, fair and workable, providing clarity without adding unnecessary complexity, and the changes introduced by this bill will not apply retrospectively. Employers will continue to be responsible for paying penalty rates in accordance with the relevant modern award. It does not introduce new obligations beyond this existing requirement. Enterprise bargaining will remain the key pathway for employers to directly negotiate with employees and their representatives to achieve flexibility and productivity gains, including in relation to penalty and overtime rates. Enterprise bargaining has strong safeguards in place, including oversight by the independent Fair Work Commission, to facilitate good faith in the bargaining process.

Without this principle, the commission would apply the modern awards objective, subsection 134(1), in determining whether to make the proposed variations. The modern awards objective is a balancing exercise which requires the commission to weigh up several factors, including but not limited to the 'need to provide additional remuneration for employees working overtime; unsocial, irregular or unpredictable hours; weekends or public holidays; or shiftwork'—subsection 134(1)(da).

The bill would provide stronger protection than the status quo in the following ways. The principle is applied over and above the commission's consideration of the modern award objectives, overriding any decision that would rule in favour of provisions that have the effect of reducing penalty rates and overtime rates. The test applies to the additional remuneration that any employee would otherwise receive, meaning that a provision cannot be in a modern award if there is evidence of a single employee that would be worse off. There is also currently no legal definition of exemption rate clauses in modern awards. Section 135A(1)(b) therefore applies a higher level principle to ensure the commission is focused on the desired policy outcomes, ensuring employees' rights to penalty and overtime rates are not diminished. Otherwise, the legislation would need to attempt to define the various types of clauses across all modern awards, which would narrow the principle and could have unintended consequences.

As part of this speech—because retail workers, as I said earlier in my speech, have been on the front lines when we have been through difficult times like COVID—I want to pay credit to a young man and to congratulate him. It's Lachlan Bovill, who has been named the best checkout operator in Tasmania and Victoria—no mean feat. Lachie is a great guy; he does his work with enthusiasm. Obviously, customers really appreciate the way he interacts and communicates with them. He knows, because he's been trained, that service is service is service. I want to give a big shout-out to Lachie. He works at the Legana Woolworths. As I said before, he's been acknowledged in the community by the local council just recently. He's hardworking. He has humility and the best customer service that anyone could pay for. Lachie will travel to Sydney in October, where he will be in the running for a national operator of the year award. I also note that, as part of the Young Citizen of the Year awards, he was acknowledged and named as the young citizen by the West Tamar Council. This is a young man who is a member of the SDA, so he knows that his back is always covered by the SDA, because they put their membership first.

We do know that those opposite do not have the same belief as we do. There's a stark contrast between this side of the chamber and that side of the chamber in terms of sticking up for workers and ensuring they get paid a fair day's wage for the work that they do. We want them to keep more of their pay. That's why we introduced the tax cuts, which those opposite did not support.

I think the record is very clear. Australian workers know that they have the support of the Labor government. We proved that in our first term of government, and we have continued that in the first 100 days of our second term. For retail workers who serve the community on the front lines at the expense of their own families and time spent with their children, penalty rates are a vital recognition of their sacrifice. Again, thank you and a big shout-out to the SDA for putting their members first and for recognising the sacrifice that they make—giving up time with their families and not being able to go with sporting events and other social activities. They stand with them, just as the Anthony Albanese Labour government stands with Australian workers.