Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Abetz, representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. Is the minister aware of comments from the minister for workplace relations on Lateline last night that anyone working in a business with fewer than 100 employees can be sacked simply because the boss does not like them? Under the government’s new system, wouldn’t the employee have no entitlement to redundancy pay and no right to appeal the termination? What is to stop an employer simply sacking someone and then offering them the same job on a significantly lower wage? Can the minister explain how this complete loss of employment security benefits the four million Australians working in small businesses, many of whom are struggling to pay off mortgages and raise children?