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Employment minister Murray Watt has been doing the media rounds this morning on the back of his intervention in the penalty rates case, as my colleague Dan Jervis-Bardy noted below.

Speaking to ABC News Breakfast a little earlier, Watt said the government felt compelled to intervene as “some of the biggest retailers in the country like Coles and Woolies, try to slash the penalty rates of some of the lowest-paid workers in the country.”

I have noticed that the retailers have tried to portray this as being about managers in their stores. We need to remember that we’re talking about people who are earning as little as $54,000 a year. Beyond that, there’s a principle here, which is weekends matter.

What we’re talking about here is an attempt by big business to change the minimum safety net, the award provisions, the safety floor that is supposed to provide minimum rates and conditions for workers.

And what we’re saying is that if employers want to have those sort of changes, they should negotiate with their employees as a whole rather than try to take them away from minimum conditions.

It’s a hot topic and I think people are hungry for reform. Debit is the new cash and should be treated the same.