Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

TT (—) (): I have to pick you up on one thing there, Senator Cash. When I'm speaking tonight I'm not just speaking to the employers of Australia, I am speaking to the employers and the workers of Australia. Unlike your government, we recognise that there are two different groups involved in a workplace—that is, employers and workers. We think that both of them have interests which need to be met by our workplace relations legislation. But what I can say to the employers and workers of Australia, and the trade unions of Australia who also of course have an important role in our workplace relations system, is that we are leaving a number of matters in this legislation to the discretion of the Fair Work Commission, including the example that you've given, and that is nothing out of the ordinary for the industrial relations legislation of Australia or, in fact, for many other pieces of legislation considered and passed by this parliament.