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

that some people should be working parts of their weekend for nothing—that was enough to enliven them to have their first election commitment in this area.

Let's just have a look at one of the sorts of workers in the member for Blair's electorate. Let's consider the impact of the right to disconnect on a constable, level 5, on $96,000 a year. On that, they're looking forward to a tax cut of $2,080. But, thanks to an article that's come out today from Ewin Hannan at the Australian, there's some information from what the Police Federation of Australia think about the commitment that the Leader of the Opposition has made. In their media release, they have specifically addressed the Leader of the Opposition, referring to his call and his first election commitment in industrial relations as being short-sighted, disrespectful and wrong. They go on to explain what happens when officers are sometimes called in the middle of the night for work that could easily wait until their next shift. That's why in many states but not yet all—what's the clause that they have in their enterprise agreement? It's a right-to-disconnect clause. The Police Federation of Australia is calling on all members of the federal opposition and those who are unsupportive on the crossbench to have a significant rethink of Mr Dutton's position on the right to disconnect, as this will have a significant negative impact for all first responders. In the words of the Police Federation of Australia:

Mr Dutton should unwind this ill-conceived thought bubble.

They said that their policy would be targeted. It's targeted against frontline workers, against pay rises, against job security and against people ever getting time away from work, where they know their time is their own.

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