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

Certainly, in the period that I was the workplace relations minister and announced this commitment during the election campaign, there was no consideration given to exempting small businesses. Again, that's because our government's view is that, regardless of whether you work for a large company or a small business, you're entitled to penalty rates.

I have heard the senator say on a number of occasions that the coalition supports penalty rates. It seems a little bit odd, then, to be asking questions about exempting small businesses. That would suggest to me that the coalition doesn't support penalty rates for small businesses. That would be the only reason to seek a carve-out for small businesses. To my knowledge, exempting small businesses from this has never been considered, for the reason I've explained.