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One Nation voted against tougher penalties for the worst cases of wage underpayment despite saying it supports them, but has denied it made a mistake amid confusion in the Senate while amendments to the government’s industrial relations bill flew thick and fast.
The minor party defended its vote in last Thursday’s Senate sitting by saying it wanted to vote for wage theft laws as part of a broader suite of measures in the government’s initial proposal.
One Nation senators Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts voted against wage theft laws, despite saying they support them.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
When the government failed to win enough support from the Senate crossbench to pass its full industrial relations package, it withdrew support for some sections, including the employee-friendly wage theft laws in schedule five.
Labor, the Greens and three independent crossbenchers voted to keep the tougher penalties for underpayment in the bill but when One Nation voted with the Coalition to remove it, the Senate was locked in a 32-32 tie.
Under Senate procedure, the tie resulted in the provisions being stripped from the bill since it didn’t have majority support, leaving Australia with an inconsistent patchwork of different wage theft laws.
“There was a lot of confusion throughout the committee stage,” One Nation industrial relations spokesman Senator Malcolm Roberts said. “Even experienced government ministers were confused and we witnessed Senator [Stirling] Griff puzzled about his own amendments.
“We’d like to see the remaining schedules reintroduced to the Senate in the next sitting period for debate,” Senator Roberts said last week. “Only then will One Nation’s support of [the wage theft laws in] schedule five be understood.”
Voting on the industrial bill was chaotic in the Senate, with amendments moved and changed rapidly on the fly. Amid the confusion, some government senators were spruiking the benefits of the wage theft laws hours before the vote, even after the government had revealed it no longer wanted to pass them.
On Wednesday Senator Roberts clarified One Nation did not vote against the underpayment provisions by mistake. “We voted on the understanding that all the other schedules, apart from Schedule one [which dealt with casual employment], will be coming back as a package,” he said.