Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

They haven't read the legislation yet. The only words of the legislation they're sure of are the name—'Secure jobs, better pay'—and that was enough for the Leader of the Opposition to say: 'Vote against it. You can't have that.' 'Secure jobs, better pay' was enough for it to be vetoed. At least they're being consistent: in opposition, they are intending to do exactly what they did in government, which is to suppress wages, try to prevent wages from going forward and try to prevent improvements in people's pay. The Leader of the Opposition had a moment of clarity when he said, with reference to the government, 'They've been elected to make a bad situation better.' He's right: they left us with a bad situation. He's right: wage stagnation for a decade has been a terrible outcome for households. This government is determined to make that better and, if those opposite don't support secure jobs or better pay, they should continue on their current course.

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