Senator SIEWERT (Western Australia—Australian Greens Whip) (12:43): by leave—The Greens have been on the record for a long time supporting the pay equity case for community sector workers, believing very strongly that those workers are an essential part of our community. They deliver absolutely essential services. We have been strongly supportive of that case. We are also strongly supportive of the not-for-profit sector in general. We are concerned about any unintended conse­quences for not-for-profit organisations. So we want to make sure there are no adverse consequences, while supporting pay equity for the workers, which we believe is essential. We are aware there are some problems with this regulation. The list, in particular, is of concern—the issues around which organisations have received funding from the state government. We are aware the state government has put in $414 million to help with that. So the issue is how to fix the situation, which I am convinced everybody knows and wants to get fixed.

The key part of the announcement here is that workers will be paid as if this regulation took effect from 1 October. In other words, workers will not be disadvantaged by repealing this instrument and then fixing it. Workers will essentially be back paid from whenever this new instrument takes effect. Workers will receive back pay as if this regulation came into effect from 1 October. That is particularly important—in other words, workers are not being disadvantaged by some of the unfortunate errors that have occurred with this regulation.