Sunday penalty rates will not be cut without a mandate from voters at the next federal election, but the new Employment Minister, Michaelia Cash, will push ahead with plans to revive the national building and construction watchdog.
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Resisting calls from the business sector to force a reduction in penalty rates, Senator Cash said the Turnbull government would await the final recommendations of the Productivity Commission and not make any changes until after the federal election.
In an interview with Fairfax Media, Senator Cash said she would not draw conclusions from the commission's recently released draft report, which recommends parity between Saturday and Sunday penalty rates.
"If in terms of the final recommendations there is a case for good, sensible and fair changes to bring balance to the fair work framework, these will be clearly outlined before the next election.," she told Fairfax Media. "We will take them to the next election to seek a mandate from the Australian people.
"We need to explain clearly and concisely to the Australian people why we say there is a need for change.
"It is all about bringing the people of Australia with us."
The more immediate agenda would include the reintroduction of legislation to revive the Howard government's Australian Building and Construction Commission, which was abolished by the former Labor government. Former employment minister Eric Abetz's attempt to introduce the legislation was rejected in the Senate.
Senator Cash would also reintroduce the registered organisations legislation, which would subject union officials to the same potential penalties as directors of ASX 100 companies. The timing of the reintroduction of the bills has not yet been determined, but is likely next year.
"I am committed to bringing back those pieces of legislation," she said.
"I am confident I have a good relationship with crossbenchers. I need to put my case as to why we believe the legislation is necessary.
"I need to listen to their concerns and then, if required, I need to work through those concerns with them."
On her precedessor's failure to get any legislation through the Senate, Senator Cash said she had nothing but praise for Senator Abetz and looked forward to "continuing on with the work he was doing".
"Workplace relations is a tough job and one of the reasons it is a tough job is that Industrial relations has long been pitched as a battle between the government and the unions and business and the unions," she said.
"We have automatic opposition from Labor and the Greens in the Senate to almost anything that we do, regardless of the merits of it."
Senator Cash has described as an "absolute disgrace" and "economic vandalism" Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's opposition to the China-Australia free-trade agreement in the Senate.
"They are basically voting against jobs; they are voting against growth. The sooner we can get this through, the sooner the economic benefits can flow through to all Australians," she said.
"Those who are protesting who are members of the CFMEU wearing the CFMEU caps might just want to check where those caps are made."
On the royal commission into trade union corruption, Senator Cash said its final report would not be tainted by allegations of bias against commissioner Dyson Heydon after he accepted, and later rejected, an invitation to a Liberal Party event.
She said evidence given to the commission "suggests serious wrongdoing within the trade union movement" and would stand on its own merits.
"I do not believe the evidence will be tainted or the report will be tainted in any way."
While she would have accepted any portfolio Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull chose for her, she was "delighted" he recognised her skills in the employment area as an industrial employment lawyer with the national law firm Freehills.
"In terms of my approach to the portfolio, the goal of any change I believe needs to be to achieve more flexibility.
"Flexibility is good for employers. Flexibility is good for employees.
"We also need to achieve those high levels of employment, but, at the same time, we need to be reassuring Australians that their conditions are not threatened."
Senator Cash said the employment system needed to encourage productivity and growth and the government's job was to provide a framework for employers to provide economic opportunities for Australians.
"At the same time, what we need to recognise is that in Australia, we do have a safety net," she said.
"We need to continually ask ourselves how do we ensure we maintain the level of wages we are in receipt of? How do we maintain our high living standards and, at the same time, how to we reassure Australians that their conditions are not threatened?
"That's how I look at the industrial relations system."
Ms Cash said there was a synergy between her roles as Employment Minister and Minister for Women, because she was strongly focused on increasing women's participation in the workforce.
She said the government could remove structural barriers, including inflexible childcare to help.
The senator also defended her decision, in her previous position as assistant immigration minister, to cap the number of places for three types of skilled migration visas and to cancel all outstanding applications.
She said the vast majority of applicants were offshore and applying for positions in skills areas that were not in demand.
"This means they would be less likely to get a job if they were to migrate to Australia," she said.
"Some of these applications were lodged in 2007, so we are not talking about people who recently lodged an application.
"So we have actually determined it is unfair to keep them waiting in the queue for many more years without their application being resolved."
These visa types were closed to new applications in mid-2012. Applicants can apply for a refund on charges paid.
"At the end of the day, skilled migration is all about Australia's national interest. It is about productivity and that's what we need to focus on."
