A Liberal MP wants the federal government to go on the front foot and defend a Fair Work Commission decision on Sunday penalty rates.
Craig Kelly believes the coalition should turn its line of attack on Labor leader Bill Shorten, who did deals with big business when he was a union leader.
The commission's decision to align Sunday penalty rates with Saturday in the hospitality and retail sectors will again dominate debate as MPs return to parliament on Monday.
Mr Shorten will introduce a bill to stop the decision from going ahead when sittings commence.
"I think it's up to the government to make sure we defend that issue," Mr Kelly told ABC radio.
Asked whether he was happy with the government approach to the issue, he said: "I think we can do quite a bit more in this space".
Mr Kelly believes the government needs to talk up how small businesses need to pay their workers penalty rates while bigger firms often don't, thanks to deals with unions.
Mr Shorten told a rally in Melbourne on Sunday stripping back penalty rates was part of a wider attack on the living standards of ordinary Australians.
The commission has yet to determine how the ruling should be implemented.
Last week, the Australian Retailers Association proposed a two-stage approach - reducing permanent and casual employees' rates to 175 per cent from 200 per cent from July, and then to 150 per cent rates for permanent employees from July next year.
Both Labor and the government will be offering submissions on the issue.
Labor workplace spokesman Brendan O'Connor signalled the opposition would hound Malcolm Turnbull over the issue.
"Labor will make sure he wears this decision from this day and every day until the next election," he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
"He will wear this decision - this merchant banker, this shop steward of banks, this man who has no regard for low-paid workers in this country - will wear the consequences of the failure of the parliament to deal with the decision that was so unfair to so many families in this nation."
Cabinet minister Josh Frydenberg said he was confident the independent workplace umpire had made the right decision.
"We're always hitting the hustings to support small business and to support jobs and growth in the economy," he told reporters in Canberra.
"What is clear is that Bill Shorten will wear the price of his decision and the unions' decision to partner up with employers to short-change workers' rates."
Greens MP Adam Bandt said the prime minister was "crying crocodile tears" over pay deals struck between unions and employers.
"I fear Malcolm Turnbull doesn't care about the workers at Coles and Woolies at all, he doesn't care about penalty rates, and he's just using this as a stick to beat up on the Labor opposition and he'll do nothing to look after those workers," he said.
Labor senator Murray Watt said penalty rate cuts struck very deep in his home state of Queensland.
He noted 21 of the 30 federal seats in Queensland were held by the Liberal-National Party.
"We know that all it will take is just one LNP member crossing the floor to make this bill get through," Senator Watts told reporters as he issued a challenge to maverick Nationals MP George Christensen.
"I'm asking him, is he prepared to cross the floor to stand up for average working people who need penalty rates to be able to survive?"
