Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. In question time last Thursday, the Prime Minister refused to say whether his submission would ask the Fair Work Commission not to implement the penalty rates decision. Can the Prime Minister advise whether the government took any action at all in its submission to stop workers from having their pay cut?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government defends the independent umpire. The government believes that an independent umpire should set wages and conditions. We defend the Fair Work Commission. We respect their judgement. We respect their investigation. We defend the independent umpire, which was an article of faith for the Labor Party for 120 years.

It is not just the Leader of the Opposition who has defended the independent umpire. That other tribune of the workers, that other populist hero, the member for Gorton, said only two years ago: 'These questions would be best left to the independent umpire.' That is what he said. Now he is denouncing the Fair Work Commission. He must be ringing up all the time, apologising to all his union mates who sit on it! But anyway, he is denouncing it now. They defended the independent umpire.

And the grounds of the independent umpire were absolutely sound. They heard the evidence, they listened to the submissions and they concluded there would be more jobs and more businesses open on Sunday if they brought Sunday rates closer to Saturday rates. That was the decision.

And you would have to ask: what was the Leader of the Opposition thinking when he started the inquiry? Did he think the Fair Work Commission was going to increase Sunday penalty rates? I do not think so. He knew exactly what he was doing. He cannot be trusted—one backflip after the other; no integrity; no consistency from that Leader of the Opposition.