Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. If I may answer it with a quotation from his leader, on 16 May 2016—and there is some very fine video of this, I understand. It was in a doorstop in Geelong, and he was lecturing the Greens—the member for Melbourne will note this. At this stage the Greens were proposing some legislation, a private member's bill, which would prevent any change to penalty rates by the Fair Work Commission. So this is what the Leader of the Opposition said, not so long ago, in May 2016:

I do also just caution the Greens, from their sideshow position—

He has clearly joined the sideshow himself now!

… from their sideshow position that they need to be careful of what they're playing with fire by proposing that a government should be able to legislate on specific penalty rate outcomes, they are loading the gun for a future conservative government to pull the trigger, because what the government has the power to put in, a future government has the power to dismantle. The independent umpire, the system of conciliation and arbitration, has served this nation well for 120 years.

Bill Shorten, doorstop interview, Geelong, 16 May 2016. What a change!

We support the independent umpire. We accept their decisions.

As to the question of the precise merits of each decision, let me answer this question in a very practical way that the honourable member, as a former organiser for the shoppies union, would understand very well. He knows very well the enormous advantage that the SDA has been able to achieve for large businesses. Here is a real fact to bear in mind: a person working in a dress shop—a clothing shop—is entitled to be paid $38.88 an hour on a Sunday as a shop assistant. If they are working for Target, just down the road, they can be paid $31.02 an hour. Why? Because there has been a deal done with the union. The union, of which the member for Watson was an organiser, has traded away their penalty rates, and in a manner that disadvantages small business. This was a complex decision—a very complex decision: thousands of pages. It was properly dealt with by the independent umpire, and we support the independent umpire. So did the Leader of the Opposition—until he was given his orders by the union bosses. (Time expired)

Mrs Prentice interjecting—

Mr Taylor interjecting—

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