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

They get upset when we talk about workplace reform, don't they? They get upset when we talk about wages rising, more secure jobs, a lower gender pay gap and, importantly, lower industrial action. Unlike those opposite, who thrive on conflict, this government is focused on bringing businesses and workers together to ease cost-of-living pressures and deliver higher wages and more productivity for businesses. We know the coalition had an anti-worker and anti-union agenda when they were in government. They deliberately kept wages low, kept workers in insecure work and refused to fix the bargaining system, leading to more industrial action. We know the coalition have already committed to ripping away rights for casual workers and taking away the right for workers to stop working for free with our right to disconnect—scrapping casual worker rights, scrapping the right to disconnect. They're on the record saying it. We had Senator Hume out there saying adding more rights for workers is 'unreasonable', and that's because the coalition have a plan to take a targeted package of repeals to the next election. (Time expired)