The Nick Xenophon Team
will now support a bill to prevent penalty rate cuts, ensuring it will
pass the Senate but likely still fail in the lower house due the
government’s slim majority.
On Tuesday Labor passed an urgency motion in the Senate condemning Malcolm Turnbull’s “lack of empathy for Australian workers who rely on penalty rates to make ends meet”.
The motion passed with the Greens, One Nation, NXT, Derryn Hinch and Jacqui Lambie’s support.
Nick Xenophon has confirmed to Guardian Australia he will now support the Labor, Greens and Lambie bill to block the current round of penalty rate cuts and prevent future cuts by the Fair Work Commission that reduce take-home pay.
In comments explaining the backflip in the Adelaide Advertiser, Xenophon said: “The bottom line is none of us want to see workers have their pay cut in an environment when there’s low wage growth and an increasing number of people are under wage stress.”
“I’ll own up to this being a backflip, or even somersault, because you can’t have individual workers being worse off.”
The bill will be debated on Thursday and will pass, after Pauline Hanson’s One Nation backflipped to support the bill on Monday and NXT changed its position on Tuesday night.
“I expect it will get though the Senate, and it’s now a matter for the house to consider,” Xenophon said.
The Turnbull government holds 76 seats in the 150-member lower house, meaning the bill would require crossbench support and at least one Coalition member to cross the floor to pass.
On 23 February the FWC cut Sunday and public holiday penalty rates in the retail, pharmacy, fast food and hospitality industries by between 25% and 50%. The commission is still considering transitional arrangements, such as phasing in the cuts over a number of years.
On Monday Xenophon was criticised by Labor for being “all talk” on penalty rates after failing to make a submission to FWC.
At that time Xenophon suggested he would try to find another way to protect existing workers’ take-home pay, but has now arrived at the Labor and Greens position to overturn the FWC decision.
The shadow employment minister, Brendan O’Connor, said that now the Senate supported Labor’s motion, he hoped it also would pass the bill.
“Malcolm Turnbull’s penalty rate cut cannot be moderated or transitioned – it must be stopped completely,” he said.
On Tuesday in question time Turnbull accused the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, of flip-flopping on his support for the independent Fair Work Commission, noting that before the 2016 election Shorten committed to support its decision, even if it cut penalty rates.
On Tuesday Labor passed an urgency motion in the Senate condemning Malcolm Turnbull’s “lack of empathy for Australian workers who rely on penalty rates to make ends meet”.
The motion passed with the Greens, One Nation, NXT, Derryn Hinch and Jacqui Lambie’s support.
Nick Xenophon has confirmed to Guardian Australia he will now support the Labor, Greens and Lambie bill to block the current round of penalty rate cuts and prevent future cuts by the Fair Work Commission that reduce take-home pay.
In comments explaining the backflip in the Adelaide Advertiser, Xenophon said: “The bottom line is none of us want to see workers have their pay cut in an environment when there’s low wage growth and an increasing number of people are under wage stress.”
The bill will be debated on Thursday and will pass, after Pauline Hanson’s One Nation backflipped to support the bill on Monday and NXT changed its position on Tuesday night.
“I expect it will get though the Senate, and it’s now a matter for the house to consider,” Xenophon said.
The Turnbull government holds 76 seats in the 150-member lower house, meaning the bill would require crossbench support and at least one Coalition member to cross the floor to pass.
On 23 February the FWC cut Sunday and public holiday penalty rates in the retail, pharmacy, fast food and hospitality industries by between 25% and 50%. The commission is still considering transitional arrangements, such as phasing in the cuts over a number of years.
On Monday Xenophon was criticised by Labor for being “all talk” on penalty rates after failing to make a submission to FWC.
At that time Xenophon suggested he would try to find another way to protect existing workers’ take-home pay, but has now arrived at the Labor and Greens position to overturn the FWC decision.
The shadow employment minister, Brendan O’Connor, said that now the Senate supported Labor’s motion, he hoped it also would pass the bill.
“Malcolm Turnbull’s penalty rate cut cannot be moderated or transitioned – it must be stopped completely,” he said.
On Tuesday in question time Turnbull accused the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, of flip-flopping on his support for the independent Fair Work Commission, noting that before the 2016 election Shorten committed to support its decision, even if it cut penalty rates.
No comments:
Post a Comment