With One Nation’s probable support,the government is just one Senate vote short of passing its bill this week,despite bitter Labor opposition.
That shifts the focus to Senator Griff,who holds the government’s best chance of winning the third and final vote it needs after the other two crossbenchers,Senator Rex Patrick and Jacqui Lambie,effectively declared their opposition.
Asked whether One Nation would vote for the bill if the government accepted the “non-negotiable” amendments,Senator Malcolm Roberts said:“Yes ... it’s necessary to protect small business,necessary to protect big business ... and especially necessary to protect employees”.
But there remains a gap between Centre Alliance and One Nation on casuals.
Under the bill,casuals would be offered a chance to convert to permanent work if they have been employed for at least a year and doing regular shifts for six months,though One Nation wants that restricted to big business and to reduce the one-year requirement.
However,businesses can decline if they need the employee to stay casual and unions have demanded workers be allowed automatic access to arbitration if they want to challenge that decision.