Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We know that this government breaks its promises. We know about the GP tax. We know about the cuts to the SBS and the ABC. We know about the $80 billion worth of cuts to schools and hospitals, the six grand off hardworking families and the $100,000 degrees. We know all about trust and this government and trust and this Prime Minister. So when we see in Fairfax 'Penalty rates set to stay regardless of the Productivity Commission's recommendations' we know what bunkum it is, we know what rubbish it is and we know that this commitment is just being set up to be broken. We know that the Productivity Commission is a bit like Henry Lawson's 'loaded dog' at the moment; it is running around making its way through the government, none of whom is prepared to own up to their secret desires to cut overtime and penalty rates. That is what they have been up to, that is what they are about. It is no different all the way along—feed the donkey less and whip him harder is the coalition's industrial relations policy, and that is what they intend to do. With the spectre of an election this year, these commitments are as worthless as this Prime Minister's word and this Prime Minister's future.

See this speech in context