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

I'm not going to sit here and assess, on a one to 10 point scale or by any other means, whether what the Greens say on any matter is correct. What I'm telling you is what the government's position is and what the law is. The core change we are making here is to require the Fair Work Commission to only have regard to patterns or kinds of work or types of employment that are reasonably foreseeable. The Senate amendments will not change this. In the Senate what we are seeking to do is simply to clarify that the Fair Work Commission must consider whether reasonably foreseeable employees would be better off overall after considering the views of the parties and the nature of the business. This capacity is relevant where there are no employees actually employed under a particular classification in an agreement at the time of approval but they are realistically likely to be in future. Any working arrangements considered by the Fair Work Commission, whether for current or future employees, must be reasonably foreseeable. It's a matter for the Greens what they want to say about this debate. I am not here to say whether they're right or wrong. That's for them to say.