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

So the question here is: do you want to have penalty rates being decided by an expert independent umpire who hears the submissions of employers and employees as—the Leader of the Opposition has often said—is the appropriate process? Do you want to have them determined in that way or do you want to have them determined by parliament?

What the opposition is now saying is parliament should determine them. What that would mean, as the Leader of the Opposition has said, is that future governments will be able to make their own decisions about minimum wages, about penalty rates, about awards. That flies in the face of every principle of the industrial relations system the Labor Party has argued for, for 120 years, as the Leader of the Opposition has said. This is abandoning every principle of the Labor Party. And as Jennie George said, in words that honourable members should reflect on very carefully, 'be careful what you wish for'.

The independent umpire has served workers were well. It has served employers well. It has served Australia well. Decisions have been controversial, to be sure. But backing the independent umpire has been a joint commitment for many years, now abandoned as a politically cynical effort by the Labor Party and their hypocritical leader.

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