Senator WONG (South Australia—Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (12:43): Well, the week is ending as it started, with the Liberal-National coalition doing everything they can not to help Australian workers get a pay increase. It's the same strategy with which they started the week. Senator Henderson: This is a secret, dirty, rotten plan—a secret, dirty, rotten deal with union bosses in this country. Senator WONG: Would you like to stand up and make a contribution? No amount of slagging off the trade union movement— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Henderson— Senator Henderson: I'm just accepting Senator Wong's invitation. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: It's not an invitation. I'm the one who gives the invitations. Senator Henderson: Oh! Senator Wong, I thought you wanted me to talk about the secret, dirty, rotten deal that's hurting every employer in this country. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Henderson, please sit down. This is an open-ended debate. Senator WONG: No amount of slagging off working people will get away from the fact that you stand in the way of wage increases for ordinary Australians. Senator Henderson interjecting— Senator WONG: I know; it's a dreadful thing, isn't it? The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Henderson, do you have a point of order? Senator Henderson: On direct relevance: I just want to point out the only one I'm slagging off is this government. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: That's not a point of order. Please be seated. Senator Wong. Senator WONG: Tactical genius over there! Yet again, we see this Liberal-National party, the dregs of government, doing the only thing they know how to unite on—that is, standing up against working people. That is the only thing these divided remnants of a hapless government can actually do together—stand up against working people. That's what you've consistently done all week. It's the one thing that unites you: 'We love a deliberate design feature of our economy being low wages, and we're going to fight really hard to hold on to it.' That is what has occurred all week and that is what is occurring now. The part of the motion before the Senate that really demonstrates the motivation of those opposite is they want to defer debate on the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill. Senator Birmingham: We just want proper scrutiny! Senator WONG: I'll take the interjection from the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate. He says he just wants more time; he wants more scrutiny. Does anyone believe that those opposite, the party of WorkChoices, will ever change? I was here for the WorkChoices debate. And I see the same fervour in their eyes now. This is the thing that unites them best: 'How can we gang up against workers and how can we bash the trade union movement?' That is what unites you, and that is what this motion is all about. Let's remember the bill they so desperately don't want to debate expressly prohibits sexual harassment, puts gender equity and job security at the heart of the Fair Work Commission's decision-making, bans pay secrecy clauses. Senator Henderson interjecting— Senator WONG: You say you care, Senator Henderson, about pay equity, but you're defending pay secrecy clauses. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Excuse me, Senator Wong. Senator Henderson, on a point of order? Senator Henderson: I was going to take a point of order that Senator Wong wasn't referring her comments through the chair, but she then, when I stood up, added 'Senator Henderson', so just to remind— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Thank you. Senator Wong. Senator Watt: We've only got half an hour for this debate, and you're wasting time! Good on you! The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Watt, you're not assisting. Senator WONG: Very sensitive—so sensitive. You're very happy to dish it out but you don't like it when people call it out, do you? You dish it out across the chamber to the President but you don't like it when people call you out. Those opposite say they care about pay equity. This bill seeks to deal with some of those pay equity issues by banning pay secrecy clauses and giving the Fair Work Commission the powers to deal with pay equity. This is the bill they're fighting so hard against. New limits on rolling contracts—another equity provision. There are all these aspects of the legislation that they do not wish to debate. They want the debate to be about just one thing, because they don't actually want to deal with the real issue: at its heart, this bill is about trying to make Australian workplaces fairer and get wages moving again. That is what this bill is about. You cannot join with that issue, can you, because, fundamentally, you don't agree with it. No matter how much debate, no matter how much so-called scrutiny, you are ideologically, historically and forever committed to opposing this bill. We all remember from the last election the dollar pay increase, and the way in which your then government responded. Australians remember that. What is clear from the way in which you have dealt with this debate on this bill is you haven't learnt the lesson.