Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

The government will not be agreeing to this amendment. Firstly, there's no need for this amendment. The Fair Work Commission has said that they intend for the gender-undervaluation-of-priority-awards review to be completed by the time of next year's annual wage review. The current sunset clause allows ample time for the review to conclude. Further, the Greens political party amendment could have the strange effect of causing the act to cease following a determination on awards that have absolutely no connection to the ECEC sector, such as the award that covers the community pharmacy industry. The government is committed to ensuring that the cost of fair wages for ECEC workers isn't passed on to families through higher fees and will align longer term funding arrangements with its response to the Productivity Commission and ACCC reports.