Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Hansard source

Both the purpose and the substance of the Commonwealth's intervention in the High Court matter are misdescribed in this motion. The government believes employers must pay all their employees their proper entitlements, but it's unfair and economically damaging to require employers to pay twice. The Attorney-General's Department has assessed the cost to the Australian economy of paying twice as between $18 billion and $40 billion. The government has intervened to encourage the proper resolution of the double-payment issue. The government has attempted to legislatively extend award casual conversion provisions to the coal industry, but Labor has refused to support it. Further, ABS data shows the incidence of both casual employment and employment by labour hire firms in the mining sector were at times higher under the former Labor government. In the workplace reform process, the government is also seeking a path to remedy the significant uncertainty created by Labor's failure to insert a definition of 'casual' employment in the Fair Work Act.