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

I want to thank the member for Mayo for bringing this issue forward. A number of members of the crossbench here and in the other place have been raising different ways of dealing with the small business exemption. Some have raised it through a shift from headcount to full-time equivalents. Some have raised it as a change in the numbers. I'll be up-front here: the government's preference is to keep it at a headcount of 15, which is where we've got it. I respect that, in the passage of both houses, there'll be different negotiations that'll happen on that. I appreciate that, particularly for a number of the crossbenchers, a shift on this area is an absolutely critical issue, and that's been conveyed to me. I also acknowledge that, for a large number, there are other issues in the bill that they passionately support. But this is something where they need to stand up for their electorates. I simply want to acknowledge that but make clear that the government will be opposing the amendments that seek to change where the small business exemption is, with an understanding that the debate on this will probably continue as it goes through the other place.

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