Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Penalty and Overtime Rates) Bill 2025

Senator KOVACIC (New South Wales) (11:36): Minister, given what you've just read out—that you're relying heavily on union evidence to make your assertion—will you acknowledge then that the question of cutting penalty rates remains contested and that, until the Fair Work Commission is allowed to undertake an objective and independent process, it can't be said with certainty that those penalty rates are actually at risk of being cut?

The Fair Work Commission hasn't made that assessment; that's an assessment of the union movement.