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

Very briefly, in response to Senator Xenophon, I think the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Western Australia example is a very good example. But without knowing the full detail and minutiae of each individual agreement that might be existing around the country, it seemed to us that having that overall approach—overall no detriment—was the best approach during the transition period. We are only talking about the transition period; we are not talking about new fresh agreements as we move forward, but just the transition not having a retrospective impact, which will allow workers to potentially get a windfall. It is all very nice for workers to get the windfall and that is a great thing until you remember that former Labor Treasurer’s injunction that one person’s wage rise is usually another person’s job.

That is why we as a coalition are motivated to ensure that the economics of all this is not such that you make yourself a hero to somebody and, on the other side of the equation, somebody loses their job as a result of it. In these very tight economic times, the economics is pretty basic. Frank Crean was able to grasp it; I am sure that colleagues around the chamber are able to grasp it as well. So, without our knowing what all the minutiae and detail are in each agreement, it seemed to us that to have a generic approach that there be no detriment overall meant that workers clearly would not be worse off, but nor would employers, during the transition period.

I have to be careful. I was about to follow up on Senator Xenophon’s commentary early on, and I have decided against that. Suffice it to say that, rather than discussing width, ‘broader coverage’ might be a more delicate turn of phrase that we were suggesting. That is something that I would still remind Senator Xenophon of, but I dare say that no amount of advocacy this evening will allow Senator Xenophon to see the error of his ways on the previous motion, and therefore he will not be changing his mind on his own, and therefore, as I have indicated, we will reluctantly support his amendment.