Senator WONG (South Australia—Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (10:21): Thank you, Mr President, and I thank the Senate for their consideration. This is a chance for the crossbench to show who they really are, to show whether they stand up for low-paid workers, whether they stand up for working families or whether they are just going to jump into bed with the government, who has had low-paid Australians in its sights ever since it was elected. This is the chance for One Nation and Senator Xenophon and his team to show us whether they really are prepared to stand up for low-paid workers in this country or whether they are 'Liberal lite'. Let me tell you what we have seen from the Nick Xenophon Team and the One Nation team. In relation to the Nick Xenophon Team, we certainly see what their values are by their preparedness to ditch process in this place for a set of secret deals around cuts to family payments, which we saw at 10.15. Let's understand that they signed up to a motion that went to debate at 10.15. So we know what Senator Xenophon's team thinks when it comes to democratic processes: they like them when it suits them. On One Nation, well, do you know what they are? They are Liberal patsies. That is what they are. They are just Liberal patsies; they really are. Every time George Brandis says, 'Jump', Senator Pauline Hanson says, 'How high?' Senator Hanson's team says, 'How high?' You have an opportunity now, Senator Hanson and your team. You have an opportunity now, Senator Kakoschke-Moore, Senator Griff and Senator Xenophon. Do you stand up for working people and their penalty rates or not? Do you—through you, Madam Deputy President—stand up for working people and their penalty rates? Senator Ian Macdonald interjecting— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Macdonald, wait for the call, please. Yes, Senator Macdonald? Senator Ian Macdonald: Point of order. Could you ask the senator to refer through the chair and not directly to individual senators. The PRESIDENT: Comments are always made through the chair. Thank you, Senator Macdonald. Senator WONG: I accept that. Through you, Madam Deputy President—this is an opportunity for senators from the NXT, the Nick Xenophon Team, to show whether or not they really care about hospitality workers, retail workers, workers in this country who rely on penalty rates in their take-home pay or not. Are they going to prioritise a secret deal with the government to take money off working families over a bill that will protect the take-home pay of vulnerable workers in this country? Let me turn now to the PHON, the Pauline Hanson One Nation team. The Senator Hanson and her team say they stand up for battlers. Well you have an opportunity now in the vote that will come up. You have an opportunity to stand up for battlers, because the bill that will be debated, should you support this motion, is the bill that Senator Cameron introduced this week which will protect penalty rates. Let me tell you, despite the fact that Senator Brandis does not understand what penalty rates mean to the take-home pay of workers, Australian workers do and Australian families do. They understand the impact of a decision that removes penalty rates, without any other equivalent compensation, for low-paid workers. They understand what it means to their take-home pay. We on this side—and, to their credit, the Greens—on this issue have been very clear about why this decision by the Fair Work Commission is wrong. A government senator interjecting— Senator WONG: And it is true—I will take the interjection from the lawyer. Yes, we did establish it, and it is only in the most extreme of circumstances that you would see the Labor Party walking away from a decision by the Fair Work Commission. But this is one of those decisions, because this is about vulnerable workers—many of them young people, many of them women—who rely on penalty rates for their take-home pay. I am always astonished by those on the other side who seem to forget—or maybe have never known—what it is like to actually struggle to pay the bills at the end of the week. I remember when I was an industrial officer and a lawyer acting for women and migrant workers who relied on penalty rates; let me tell you those workers depended on penalty rates to make ends meet. I will never forget that, but those opposite have never known that. You have never known that. You have never cared about low-paid workers, and your attitude today and the sneering laughing from the Leader of the Government in the Senate is a disgrace. He has never cared about low-paid workers, just as he has never cared— (Time expired) The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Brandis.