Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Reynolds, you can scream as much as you like. I know you're all in bed with One Nation politically. What I am saying is this: One Nation prides itself on standing up for the battler but comes in here and votes with the Tories to ensure that this Senate cannot debate and vote to protect workers' penalty rates. That is what is occurring.

I will be moving an amendment to this motion to ensure that we bring on the Fair Work Amendment (Repeal of 4 Yearly Reviews and Other Measures) Bill, first to ensure that this chamber can debate and protect penalty rates. And if the Leader of the Government in the Senate seeks to move the motion without amendment or debate, his motives will be clear for everybody to see. He doesn't even want it debated. If he seeks to gag debate, his motives will be clear. The political priority of the senior members of the Turnbull government and of Mr Turnbull himself are to ensure that this Senate can't protect the penalty rates of low-paid workers. What a pathetic government.

I will respond to one point in the short period I've got left—the pontification from Senator Brandis that somehow the government gets to control everything. I gave notice of a motion, which as a matter of courtesy I sent some time ago to the government and to the crossbench, which made clear that the only day we would be seeking for government business to deal with a particular matter is Monday. We just said: 'On Monday we want to debate penalty rates until it finishes. You get to do whatever you want on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.'

So, regarding all of this pontification from Senator Brandis that somehow it's unprecedented for a government to have its legislative agenda taken over, I make two points. (1) It's your bill. It's the bill that you wanted—I won't point at you Senator Cash; she's not there. It's the bill the government brought into the chamber that is summing up and that they haven't brought back because they're scared of the numbers. (2) We wanted to debate it only for the Monday. That is the great taking over of government business! You can do what you want on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, but that's not enough, is it, because you're worried that you don't have the numbers on the penalty rates bill, and this government's priority, as always, is not to look after the interests of working people. That's who you've walked away from, and every Australian at the next election will know it.