Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

I hope that you understand that negotiations are processes where parties go back and forth between one another. They agree on some things; they do not agree on other things. They might have agreed on something but then decide to change that. That is the whole point of a negotiation. However, to ensure that an agreement is ultimately reached so that the project can get underway and to ensure that the employees, as I said last night, are able to become paid employees and accrue entitlements and have all the rights and conditions that we in this chamber have, we are merely putting in a relief valve.

Again, I confirm the evidence that I gave last night. The union must have been given a reasonable opportunity to sign the agreement that is put to the Fair Work Commission for approval. The union must have seen that agreement. As we went through last night, if an agreement that the union has not seen is put to the commission, the commission will upload that proposed agreement onto its website. You can only imagine, Senator Cameron, I am sure, what the reaction of the union would be if it saw on the commission's website an agreement that it had not had the opportunity to comment on.

In any event, I go back to when the Fair Work Commission is looking at this proposed agreement. In terms of the approval criteria, we have ensured that whilst under your legislation the award is the relevant standard—the better-off-overall standard—we are increasing that. This is of benefit to the proposed employees. The approval criteria now include the prevailing standards and conditions within the industry. Employees will be better off as a result of that.