Question time: Industrial relations showdown over omnibus bill

Labor has continued to attack the government’s proposed industrial relations reforms ahead of Anthony Albanese unveiling his plan.

Federal Labor has continued to draw battlelines over a proposed industrial relations shake-up.

The Morrison government‘s omnibus bill seeks changes to the Fair Work Act that Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter says will increase flexibility for workers and employers.

But the opposition is setting the scene for an election showdown over jobs and workers’ rights, saying the reforms will slash workers’ wages.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese will unveil his plan for industrial relations during a speech next week in Brisbane.

His team used Question time on Thursday to grill the government proposal, including the suspension of the better off overall test – which ensures an enterprise agreement does not leave workers worse off than under an award.

“According to the government’s fair pay calculator under the industrial relations changes, a butcher working part-time Thursday to Sunday could lose nearly $7000 a year from their take-home pay,” Adelaide MP Steve Georganas said.

But Mr Porter said the calculator “simply does not produce that result”.

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Christian Porter has spent all week rejecting Labor’s claims over the bill. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

He said the changes would ensure part-time workers could get more shifts and casuals and a path to permanent employment.

“You now oppose that and that is collateral damage,” Mr Porter said.

“Everything in this bill is designed to ensure that people have more money, more wages and better conditions.”

Both sides of the chamber erupted as questioning heated up.

Labor this week revealed it would oppose the government legislation and would not wait for a Senate committee investigating the bill to hand down its findings.

Scott Morrison was also questioned about the fallout from the end of JobKeeper, with the opposition referring to an email from Hello World Travel CEO Andrew Burns that asked employees to take pay cuts from the end of March – when the wage subsidy payment ends.

The Prime Minister told the parliament he had not seen the correspondence before defending the program as a game-changer that “saved 700,000 jobs”.