Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Penalty and Overtime Rates)

“I'm pleased to speak in support of the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Penalty and Overtime Rates) Bill 2025. In some countries, politics is divided on the basis of religion or race or culture or geography; in Australian politics, it's really based on the attitude people have to bills like this and to the working men and women of this country. We on this side of the chamber represent the working-class people—compare that to the attitude of those opposite in relation to this issue.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 30 July 2025

“The failure to stop the erosion of this fundamental entitlement and these minimal conditions for our lowest paid workers will likely see more employer groups pursue similar arrangements. It'll extrapolate. But one thing I can tell you to near certainty—to the extent that predictions can be certain—is that the result will be that lower paid workers will be paid even less. That's always what sits underneath these attempts to strip away protections. Workers on the downside of advantage do not bargain with their employers from a position of equality. And it's that inequality that people who strip away basic conditions seek to exploit. It's why we need to pass this bill.”

Australian Labor Party • Senator • 26 Aug 2025

“It is important that this bill be passed urgently so the Fair Work Commission can apply the amended legislation to the cases of the retail, clerical and banking sectors that are currently before it. The amended legislation will come into effect the day after it receives royal assent, reflecting both this urgency to protect working people and the Albanese Labor government's commitment to implementing our election promises, something that we have seen again and again in these first two sitting weeks. This bill ensures the fair and decent treatment of award based workers, hardworking Australians who rely on penalty rates and overtime rates every single day.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 31 July 2025

“I also rise to speak on the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Penalty and Overtime Rates) Bill 2025. Our government has a proud history of delivering fairer pay and better conditions for Australian workers, and this bill continues that work. It delivers on our election commitment to protect the penalty rates and overtime of some 2.6 million modern award workers in Australia, many of whom rely on their penalty rates and their overtime to make ends meet.”

Australian Labor Party • Senator • 26 Aug 2025

“I'm very proud to be here speaking on this bill, the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Penalty and Overtime Rates) Bill 2025, which protects workers' penalty rates. I do so because it's an important bill for my electorate, especially, and for everyone's electorate as it amends the Fair Work Act 2009 to legislate protections to ensure that penalty and overtime rates in modern awards cannot be reduced or substituted by another term that would reduce employees' take-home pay. Our workers, who rely on overtime and penalty rates, deserve nothing less. That's why I'm supporting this bill and why all of us on this side are supporting the bill.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 30 July 2025

“This legislation will mean that proposals like these cannot be included in modern awards, which act as our safety net, and ensures penalty and overtime rates of low paid workers are protected.”

Australian Labor Party • Senator • 25 Aug 2025

“That's why this bill should pass. It's a bill that will protect the penalty rates of 2.6 million modern-award-reliant workers in this country. These are our fellow citizens, serving the public, in hospitality and retail predominantly, working irregular hours, unsociable hours. For that, Australians designed a compact and the concept of penalty rates—some compensation for stopping your social interaction in the normal hours. The people who are going to oppose it, for goodness sake, I bet aren't working on a Sunday. I bet they're not down at Coles at Manuka putting in their hours at 10 o'clock at night. Maybe they didn't ever have to. Maybe they have no compassion or empathy for the Australian people. I cannot understand why anyone would vote against this bill. Anyone in their right mind, anyone with a sense of fairness and decency, would support what this bill will do. This benefits 2.6 million of our fellow Australians who rely on penalty rate entitlements to help them make ends meet, to pay their bills and to support their families. They're counting on us to deliver for them.”

Australian Labor Party • Senator • 25 Aug 2025

“I rise to support the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Penalty and Overtime Rates) Bill 2025. On this side of the House, we will always stand up for working people. At the election, we committed to protecting penalty rates, and now the government is delivering on that promise. If you work weekends, public holidays, early mornings, late nights and rely on penalty rates through the modern award safety net, you deserve to have your penalty wages protected.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 31 July 2025

“This is what Labor governments do. We stand up for workers, legislate for fairness and deliver for working people. I commend this bill to the House. Let's protect penalty rates, let's protect overtime and let's keep building a country where no worker is left behind and every worker gets to have a fair go.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 30 July 2025

“As I said, there is an urgency. This is something that is a top priority for our government. It's something that we committed to in the election campaign. It's something that we're doing right now in this first sitting fortnight because some employers in the retail, clerical and banking sectors have made applications to the commission to trade away the penalty rates of lower-paid workers and leave some workers worse off. That's why we want to see this legislation passed as soon as possible—so that the commission is able to apply this principle in considering those proposals.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 31 July 2025

“I speak in support of the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Penalty and Overtime Rates) Bill 2025, as introduced by the minister, because millions of workers will benefit from that bill. Penalty rates are not an optional extra; they are essential to the household budgets of millions of Australians. People across this country rely on penalty rates, and that is why the minister and this government seek to protect them.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 31 July 2025

“This bill here before the House is about making sure that we are taking action to ensure that the best interests of workers is at the heart of our workplace relations system. This legislation will mean that proposals, as I mentioned earlier, to undermine worker pay cannot be included in modern awards. It's really ensuring that the safety net remains. We are going to protect the penalty rates and overtime rates of low-paid workers and enshrine protections for penalty rates and overtime rates in modern awards. In practical terms, this will mean workers won't have to worry about that safety net. We have done this because Labor governments are committed to strengthening the modern award system without adding unnecessary complexity. The bill will not stop parties engaging in ways to make awards easier or from ensuring that award terms can be adaptable to modern working needs.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 31 July 2025

“Let me explain exactly how the bill works. It amends the Fair Work Act to introduce a new section, 135A. It requires the Fair Work Commission to make sure that penalty and overtime rates in awards aren't reduced and that awards don't include terms that substitute those entitlements in a way that cuts take-home pay. This means the commission will still have flexibility to do its work but it will have a clear principle it must follow: protect the pay of workers who rely on penalty and overtime rates. This change is carefully designed. It targets the kinds of changes that would reduce the percentage of pay a worker receives for penalty hours or roll those penalties up into a flat rate that's worth less overall. It doesn't impact individual contracts, it doesn't apply to enterprise agreements and it doesn't stop good faith efforts to modernise awards. It stops pay quietly being cut for the people who can least afford it.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 30 July 2025

“So gutting penalty rates is not a hypothetical. It is happening, and the bill is a line in the sand. More specifically, this bill enshrines protections for penalty rates and overtime entitlements in the Fair Work Act, making it harder for big business and employer groups to strip them away through award reviews.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 31 July 2025

“This is a government that has the backs of workers, and we are legislating to make sure workers also benefit from the prosperity of this wonderful country. This bill is about principles of fairness, decency and dignity. It anchors in law a protection that millions of Australians depend upon. It reflects our commitment to safeguarding lowest-paid workers amid economic pressures A and it reaffirms the integrity of Australia's modern award system. I'd like to thank the minister for this latest tranche of legislation, and I commend the bill to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 31 July 2025

“The bill will commence the day after it receives royal assent, reflecting the government's election commitment to move quickly to protect penalty rates and overtime rates for Australia's lowest-paid workers. It will ensure award-reliant workers continue to be fairly compensated for working overtime; unsocial, irregular or unpredictable hours; weekends, public holidays or shifts.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 31 July 2025

“In conclusion, for many award-reliant employees, penalty and overtime rates are a critical part of their take-home pay. As we know, it's low-paid workers, women and young people—as well as those working in retail and hospitality, who often work unsociable and irregular hours—who are more likely to be reliant on awards. This bill is about fairness. It's about respecting the millions of Australians who work public holidays, weekends, late nights and early mornings. If you get your penalty rates, you deserve them. This bill is about making sure the safety net does what it's meant to do—protect those who need it most. On that basis, I commend the bill to the Senate.”

Australian Labor Party • Senator • 26 Aug 2025

“Let's pass this bill. Let's protect penalty and overtime rates. Let's do the right thing by the people who do right by this country every single day. I commend the bill to the Senate.”

Australian Labor Party • Senator • 26 Aug 2025

“We on this side want to protect the safety nets we have in place. We want to protect workers' rights and their families. We don't want our hospitality workers working all night for drinks and just tips. This legislation protects penalty rates. It doesn't extend them but it ensures that they can't be given away under undue pressure. The legislation doesn't hold good businesses back but it does ensure that there are no workers left behind.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 30 July 2025

“The government's penalty rates bill enshrines a clear principle. Penalty and overtime rates cannot be rolled into a single rate of pay if workers are left worse off. It protects against schemes that offer a higher base pay in exchange for forfeiting those penalty rates—evenings, early mornings, weekends—while still allowing flexibility in the award, so long as workers are not financially disadvantaged and so long as workers are not left worse off under these arrangements. What this means is that this legislation protects workers, supports the economy and strengthens the stability of our workforce.”

Australian Labor Party • Senator • 25 Aug 2025

“The safeguards in the enterprise bargaining framework remain unchanged. Parties will still be able to bargain at the enterprise level to reduce existing penalty rates and overtime rates, so long as the commission is satisfied the enterprise agreement meets the better off overall test, ensuring that the take-home pay of these low-paid workers is not reduced. That's incredibly important. I say to the people of Dickson who are working this weekend: you've earned every single cent of your penalty rates. Thanks to this bill, we will help protect that right.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 31 July 2025

“Under the Liberal-National government that safety net is always under threat. Right now there are active applications before the Fair Work Commission from employer groups in the retail, banking and clerical sectors seeking to trade away penalty rates and overtime. They want to roll these entitlements into so-called all-in pay rates, leaving workers worse off. This bill puts a stop to that. It will amend the Fair Work Act to insert a new section which requires the Fair Work Commission to ensure that penalty and overtime rates in modern awards are not reduced and that modern awards do not include terms that substitute or trade away those entitlements, where doing so would reduce the extra pay a worker would otherwise receive. This change is urgent. We want the bill passed quickly so it can apply to decisions currently before the commission. If passed, it will mean that those attempts to undermine penalty rates cannot succeed.”

Australian Labor Party • Senator • 26 Aug 2025

“That's why the Albanese government believes in a fair wage for a fair day's work. We believe that productivity comes from empowering workers, not impoverishing them. We believe that protecting penalty rates and overtime is not only good economics; it is the very essence of Australian fairness. And I say to those opposite: if you believe in a fair go, if you believe in hard work being rewarded, if you believe in our national story, vote for this bill. In fact, I don't think anyone can in good conscience vote against this bill. On behalf of every worker who clocks in on a Sunday or on a public holiday, on behalf of those staying back late at night, and on behalf of everyone working overtime to support their family, I will be voting to support this bill to support their rights and their wages.”

Australian Labor Party • Senator • 25 Aug 2025

“This bill strengthens that safety net. It ensures that workers aren't disadvantaged by technicalities or loopholes, and it does so without adding unnecessary complexity. Employees and employers can still negotiate flexibility, but not at the expense of fairness. This bill doesn't go after or unfairly treat many of the great small businesses that do the right thing and that value and reward their workers. It just protects the status quo.”

Australian Labor Party • Senator • 26 Aug 2025

“The Albanese government has done a power of work to secure the wages of working Australians. This bill today feeds into and complements the other work we have done in respect of banning wage secrecy, banning labour hire and backing in consecutive increases to the minimum wage, which has seen real wages rise for seven consecutive quarters, despite us also navigating this country through a nasty inflationary and cost-of-living crisis. We are here for working Australians. We are here to protect our most vulnerable workers and our most essential workers from future erosion of their pay. I commend this bill to the Senate.”

Australian Labor Party • Senator • 26 Aug 2025

“This parliament has a responsibility to stand up for those workers, and this bill does just that. It locks in protections for around 2.6 million Australians whose pay and conditions are set by modern awards. It sends a clear message: we value your work and we will not allow it to be undermined. This government was elected with a commitment to restore fairness to the workplace relations system, to lift real wages and improve conditions and to strengthen the safety net, and this bill is a practical expression of that commitment. It is about saying, 'Never again will penalty rates and overtime be eroded through the back door of so-called flexibility.'”

Australian Labor Party • Senator • 26 Aug 2025

“The Greens will be supporting this bill because it's incredibly important to stop the further erosion of pay and conditions for workers. What this bill doesn't do is address the big challenges of the modern workplace: casualisation, insecure work, gig economy exploitation and the need for greater flexibility on workers' terms. So my esteemed colleague Senator Barbara Pocock will be moving amendments to this bill. In particular, there is one amendment to add emphasis to some issues that were raised in the inquiry into this bill. That amendment will give Labor the opportunity to not just protect existing entitlements but enshrine new rights for workers.”

Australian Greens • Senator • 26 Aug 2025

“Straight off the bat, I support the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Penalty and Overtime Rates) Bill 2025 and will be voting in favour of it, but, to be honest, I wish that we in the Senate knew more about it. The government has decided not to share with us a regulatory impact statement. Normally, a regulatory impact statement would tell us the impact the government is predicting that a change to the rules will have. Those effects would include how many jobs will be impacted, how many businesses will be affected or the extent to which the changes will make the regulations more or less complex. You'd think that all these effects would be important. After all, your intentions don't guarantee your outcome. If a doctor gives you a prescription that makes things worse, you don't give them a pass mark for giving it a red-hot crack. You change doctors, because, when you're playing with live ammunition, what matters isn't your intentions but your impact.”

Independent • Senator • 26 Aug 2025