Chris Hayes (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to an AWA offered to one of my constituents by Lipa Pharmaceuticals which scraps Saturday hourly penalty rates, scraps Sunday hourly penalty rates, cuts public holiday hourly pay rates, excludes all protected award conditions and pays the same base rate of pay as the existing collective agreement but does not guarantee a pay rise over the five-year life of the agreement. I also refer the Prime Minister to the fact that my constituent was told that if he refused to sign the AWA there were plenty of people who would. What does the Prime Minister say to my constituent, a father of five who would lose at least $200 a week as a result of this government’s extreme industrial relations laws?

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Werriwa for his question. I have had the experience of being asked a lot of these questions, and about 90 per cent of them have been based on incorrect information. If the honourable member wants to send me a copy of the AWA and all the details, I will have a look at it and respond accordingly.

Chris Hayes (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To assist the Prime Minister, I seek leave to table both the certified agreement that the employee was under and the Australian Workplace Agreement.

Leave granted.