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

The approach that we're putting forward here requires standards to be made by an expert panel which informs the Fair Work Commission's decision. The reason we've gone down that path is that that ensures that the Fair Work Commission has the appropriate knowledge and expertise of the road transport industry to perform its functions under the bill while retaining flexibility to achieve an appropriate and efficient allocation of resources to manage its overall caseload. But again, Senator Cash, as I think I said earlier, it's not unusual for the Fair Work Commission to be given the right to make its own decisions—in this case, based on advice. The Fair Work Commission is a standalone body with its own decision-making powers, and it must consult the road transport advisory group. But of course it retains the decision-making powers, as it does under any other number of other sections under the legislation.