Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Our difficulty is that we do not fully know what is going to be put to us after the dinner break. This legislation has now been around, allegedly in Forward with Fairness, since before the election, but of course the legislation that we now have before us is a significant departure from the election policy and therefore it is very difficult for us to know how best to proceed in relation to that without actually seeing the amendments. So I will have to reserve my position and the coalition’s position in relation to that.

Whilst that is being determined, I will use the time before dinner to see whether we can get some specific answers, albeit not to matters that are before us at this stage, in relation to amendments. Having been, if I might say, a fairly active participant in the Senate Standing Committee on Education, Employment and Workplace Relations inquiry into the Fair Work Bill, I placed a number of questions on notice. I received some written answers. In South Australia, if my memory serves me correctly, we heard from Yum! Restaurants International, a business organisation that is into fast foods. They were concerned about enterprise awards being able to continue under this new regime. I asked: will the legislation allow for new enterprise awards to be made along similar lines to that which Yum! International operates under? The answer that I was provided with says that the transitional bill will ‘allow parties to “modernise” enterprise awards so that they can continue to operate’. That is fine if you have an ongoing enterprise, but my specific question was: will the legislation allow for new enterprise awards? And the written answer did not canvass that. If I could be provided with an answer in relation to that, that would be helpful.