Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

In the terms in which Senator Watt comes in and presents that, I certainly cannot confirm that's the case. What I can confirm is, very much, that the reforms we're putting in place are about getting more Australians back into work, building on the strong jobs growth that we have had in recent months and ensuring that continues into the future. In getting more Australians back into work, the different pillars of our COVID economic recovery are built upon ensuring that we have the strongest possible economy. We have that economy through the budget incentives to drive further investment; through the support for Australian households and families by bringing forward the tax cuts that will benefit those families and put more money back into their pockets to invest as they see fit; and through the types of measures in skills reform in the JobMaker program that we have made sure we are outlining and implementing to give every possible incentive for people to be work ready and for employers to particularly invest in employing young Australians. We build upon those reforms by ensuring that we have industrial relations and workplace relations systems that offer the capacity for employers to employ with confidence, that offer greater certainty for employees—for example, casual employees in terms of their rights and their opportunities to convert into permanency of employment—that, indeed, maintain the better-off-overall test under a framework where changes require the approval of a majority of employees and changes require the approval of the independent umpire. We have these frameworks in place and the scare campaign those opposite are seeking to start is just a sign of their desperation and desire to pursue conflict— (Time expired)