Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. These pay slips are from two men who work at the same abattoir and do the same job, for the same hours, on the same shift, in the same room. One works for the company which runs the abattoir, and the other is a labour hire casual. The labour hire worker gets $500 less per week. Why does the Morrison government continue to protect this rort that drives wages down?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This question is very similar to the one that was put to me by the member for Watson. Under Labor's Fair Work Act, the wages and conditions paid to employees are determined by the relevant industrial instrument. These are Labor's laws. We actually have sought to improve on those laws.

We sought to make positive changes that would help businesses to employ more Australians, would help workers to be able to achieve more and earn more. But those opposite decided not to support them and they thought that workers were collateral damage for their political objectives in scuttling the changes that we were seeking to make. Those opposite are no friends of the workers. They're no friends of the workers, and workers know that. As the member for Paterson said, Labor sound like they are whingeing and people just don't like it. She worries that Labor is sleepwalking off a cliff. That's what workers think of the Labor Party.