Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Hansard source

There are a couple of fundamental points where we aren't on the same page, and this includes the clubs award as well.

If an award allows for workers to be paid certain amounts as penalty rates and certain amounts as base pay, that will continue into the future, and any variation won't require payment by an employer of underpayments for things that have happened in the past. This bill is about changing arrangements for the future. If an award at the moment allows for people to be paid certain penalties and certain base rates of pay, that will continue into the future until the award is varied.

When it comes time for the award to be varied, what we're saying is that penalty rates can't be taken away in that award. This retrospective argument is, with respect, wrong, and I know it's largely employer groups who are making that argument. It's not about saying that what people were paid five years ago was wrong and you've got to repay them for an underpayment. It's about saying what you will need to pay them into the future.