Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has issued a fiery response to a "joke" question from a Coalition MP over the government's industrial relations bill.
The LNP's Member for Wide Bay, Llew O'Brien, pressed Mr Albanese during Question Time on Monday on whether a secret deal had been made with independent Senator David Pocock to secure his backing for the Secure Jobs, Better Pay bill.
"Yesterday the Prime Minister indicated Labor had secured a deal with Senator Pocock to ensure the passage of Labor's extreme industrial relations bill," Mr O'Brien said.
"Can the Prime Minister inform the House if there are any elements of this deal which have not been made public?"
Mr Albanese used his response to launch a blistering attack on the Opposition over transparency, making reference to former prime minister Scott Morrison's five secret ministries and the Coalition agreement between the Liberals and Nationals.
He also took aim at the Coalition for giving the question to a "newbie", although Mr O'Brien has represented the Queensland seat of Wide Bay since 2016.
"I thank the Member for Wide Bay for his question and as I understand it he's asking if there are any secret elements of any arrangements that were put forward as part of an agreement to pass our industrial relations legislation?," the Prime Minister said.
"Let me get this right. The political party that has a secret agreement as the basis of the forming of government, between the Liberal Party and the National Party, is asking are there any elements that are unknown?
"They didn't even know who their ministers were. Didn't even know. You had two treasurers, two finance ministers, two health ministers, two industry, science et cetera ministers and no one was allowed to know. And they come in here and give a newbie a question like that. What a joke."
Mr Albanese returned to his seat but Manager of Opposition Business in the House, Paul Fletcher, rose to his feet to call for the Labor leader to specifically respond to the question that was asked of him.
"On relevance, Mr Speaker, when there's been a tightly drafted question you previously asked the minister to come back to the terms of the question, are there any elements of the deal with Senator Pocock which have not been made public?" Mr Fletcher said to Speaker Milton Dick.
The Labor leader was asked by Mr Dick to return to the question.
"They probably don't recognise someone of integrity like Senator Pocock who's been upfront about everything that was discussed and nothing that wasn't, been very upfront as have I," the Prime Minister said.
"I did a press conference yesterday with the Minister for Industrial Relations and talked about exactly what was discussed between myself and Senator Pocock.
"Senator Pocock did a press conference, it's called transparency. We've got it, you never did and you still don't."
Senator Pocock sought to clear up the matter when Sky News Australia's Chief News Anchor Kieran Gilbert later asked if there was a side deal done.
"No there wasn't," he said.
The government were engaged in lengthy negotiations with David Pocock to get the legislation passed this week before Parliament rises for the year.
Concessions secured by Senator Pocock include amendments to the bill as well as a commitment to establish an independent advisory committee to annually review government support and if the welfare payments were in line with inflation.
"I said on this, this is the biggest IR reform in a decade or more, I wanted to get this right, work through the issue," he said.
"In negotiations I did get a commitment to set up an independent committee that will give the government before every budget advice on the rate of JobSeeker and other social security payments.
"I think that's really important for transparency and having a pathway to hopefully pull three million Australians out of poverty."
The key amendments to the bill cover eligibility for the multi-employer bargaining component including lifting the compulsory threshold to 20 employees – which was recommended by the Senate Committee.
Businesses with fewer than 50 employees can avoid industry-wide bargaining if there is a belief they are not comparable with other companies, with the onus on the union movement to prove a "common interest".
The government will also remove the clause allowing unions a veto for deals struck under the multi-employer bargaining stream with the Fair Work Commission to compel a vote by workers regardless of any agreement between employers.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMi3QFodHRwczovL3d3dy5za3luZXdzLmNvbS5hdS9hdXN0cmFsaWEtbmV3cy9wb2xpdGljcy9sYWJvci1wcmVzc2VkLW9uLXNlY3JldC1lbGVtZW50cy1vZi1kZWFsLW92ZXItaW5kdXN0cmlhbC1yZWxhdGlvbnMtYmlsbC1idXQtYW50aG9ueS1hbGJhbmVzZS1sYWJlbHMtY29hbGl0aW9ucy1xdWVzdGlvbi1hLWpva2UvbmV3cy1zdG9yeS81ZDgwMzhjZDBhYTlhNzEwOTk4ZThjYjU4NzE5MzA5YdIBAA?oc=5
2022-11-28 07:00:54Z
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