Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. In the equal pay case currently before Fair Work Australia, the tribunal has accepted that community sector workers are underpaid on the basis of gender. The tribunal has also said that the relevant comparable pay rates are in the local government and public sectors, which are 10 to 15 per cent higher than the original claim made by the union. Will the Prime Minister confirm that, instead of accepting the tribunal's direction and putting forward a wage proposal to the negotiations the tribunal is currently conducting, the government will simply stand back and leave the final decision up to others? Couldn't this hands-off approach result in the Commonwealth having to pay a much higher amount, up to $2½ billion over four years, than the union was seeking in its original claim?

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