Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Abetz, Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. Is the minister aware of reports that Commonwealth Bank employees are being asked to sign AWAs that remove 46 award entitlements like overtime, penalty rates, leave loading, shift allowances and rostered days off? Is it also true that these employees are not guaranteed to get any pay increase for the next five years, despite the loss of these conditions? Can the minister confirm that the Commonwealth Bank is able to do this because there is no requirement in the government’s workplace laws to compensate employees for the loss of any of these conditions? Why is the government happy to allow employers to offer AWAs that take away penalty rates and overtime on the one hand but offer no guarantee of anything in return on the other?