Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

Can I say first, Senator Abetz, if you are agreeing with the Greens—not that I have a problem with that per se—it probably indicates, if you are a coalition senator, that you might be being a little bit opportunistic. There are two points I would make, Senator Siewert. The first is a technical point, and I will make sure I get this right. If by legislative fiat you simply mandated the termination of agreements as at a nominal expiry date, you could in fact have a reduction in conditions for employees, and the point is that we wanted an appropriate transition arrangement. Hence the transition arrangements that I have read out.

The second point I make is really a mandate issue. I appreciate the position that you are putting, but what we are putting now is absolutely consistent with the election commitment that was made.