Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services and Disability Services) Share this | Hansard source

Clearly these amendments are about the recent decision by the Fair Work Commission. We only need to look at the form on the other side of the House. They and their union bosses have done deals with the big end of town. They said at the time that they were prepared to abide by this decision. The Leader of the Opposition actually encouraged the Fair Work Commission to address the issue of penalty rates. He did not say, 'Address the issue and reduce them,' or 'Address the issue and increase them.' Who does that? He said, 'Address this issue.'

So clearly the Labor Party again are doing this on instructions from their union bosses. They are doing this to play politics. They are not really interested in the little worker. The big end of town, the people like Woolworths and Coles who have employees, are already bound like issues like this, but these are the workers, the small businesses who want to stay open in competition with the big guys. The Labor Party are penalising the mums and dads, the small business owners, the backbone of the economy in Australia. I urge everyone to vote against these amendments.

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