Wood MichaelHon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety): If I can respond to comments from Penny Simmonds and Stuart Smith. I have already responded to a number of her questions around the phrase reasonable time frame" that is used here. I'll just I guess restate that the reason that "reasonable time frame" is used rather than "a fixed period of time" is for exactly the reason that she states: that there will be a variety of different fair pay agreements (FPAs) that are negotiated that will include different numbers of parties and different levels of complexity and so it seems to us that the most appropriate thing to do is to give the Employment Relation Authority some flexibility to consider what a reasonable time frame is and that will potentially differ depending on the circumstances at play. So that is the reason that that is in there. I note there are a number of other factors upon which a determination can occur as well. I do note her comment that the resources provided by the Government to support bargaining is "a minor amount". I will remember that the next time some of her colleagues criticise us for spending too much on the policy. We think it's a reasonable and balanced amount to provide for the support services that are here.In respect of clause 135(2) that she raises there are two discreet functions that we're talking about here. Firstly is the authority having the role of determining the terms of an FPA if it comes to that. That is its own role within the legislation. The role of assessing for any overlap then occurs a little bit later. They're both two discrete roles but they both do have to occur.Mr Smith goes by the old parliamentary maxim in a debate: "when in doubt read it out." It served him pretty well for a couple of minutes there I must say! When it comes to clause 207 I'd encourage the member and all others interested in this legislation—and I seriously recommend this—to go back and read the report of the original Fair Pay Agreement Working Group chaired by the Rt Hon Jim Bolger. It identified that fair pay agreements will be most effective where there is a good-faith process that is undertaken that is interspaced and which the parties spend a decent amount of time trying to find the areas in which they can constructively work and solve problems together. That is a process which actually takes a lot of skill and a lot of capability. I've got no doubt that there's a lot of that skill and capability in both employer associations and unions. But for anyone who seriously understands and appreciates those sorts of processes you shouldn't be too proud to accept that actually having the assistance of professionals in these areas that help parties with different perspectives get into a common place is actually a pretty good way of approaching these things. That's why we think that it is appropriate for the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment to provide those services. We do also note that this is a new process. It does have some complexities associated with it. As members on this side of the House have pointed out: if people get it wrong there could be penalties that apply to them. So providing the support services is about trying to guide the parties to get it right and get to good outcomes which is what we're focused on."