But Senator Abetz has told the AFR that he was surprised the Productivity Commission decided to look at penalty rates and the minimum wage - arguably the two most contentious political issues in the review - and that "we have a system that has worked relatively well over many years now, and I don't want to put the Parliament in the space of the Fair Work Commission".

And in a statement to Fairfax Media, the minister said: "the government will leave the responsibility of setting modern awards, including penalty rates, and the minimum wage with the Fair Work Commission. That's the way it remains under the Coalition."

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Kate Carnell said the group, which represents 300,000 businesses, was disappointed as "we hoped the government would do what they said they were going to do".

"Obviously we are disappointed by the minister's comments prior to the Productivity Commission report coming down. It seems to be politically inspired and it seems they don't want to have that debate with the union movement," she said.

"They have said they would have the Productivity Commission report and that ... they would use the outcomes to take a comprehensive policy to the next election. It would seem the policy is becoming less comprehensive.