Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to note that the senator has a copy of the transitional provisions. I was concerned that you may not have had them. I am sure you have read part 3, ‘Avoiding reductions in take-home pay’, dealing with the part 10A award modernisation process. It says:

The Part 10A award modernisation process is not intended to result in a reduction in the take-home pay of employees or outworkers.

This is the difficulty we always get into if we ask questions around a transitional bill, but I am happy to attempt to deal with that. It provides:

An employee suffers a modernisation-related reduction in take-home pay if, and only if—

and then it sets out four criteria—(a), (b), (c) and (d)—as to when that circumstance could arise. The next item deals with an outworker who is not an employee and suffers a modernisation related reduction in take-home pay.