Asked whether he would consider the "low-hanging fruit" of reducing Sunday penalty rates, which can be as high as $40 per hour for hospitality workers, Mr Turnbull said the issue would be considered. Protesters marched on Wednesday in Melbourne against the continued attack penalty rates. Credit:Eddie Jim "All of these matters are under consideration but it is very important that we proceed in an orderly way," he said. The Coalition has been timid on the issue of industrial relations ever since John Howard's WorkChoices policy backfired and contributed to his defeat in 2007. This is despite sustained pressure from Liberal backbenchers who want the government to intervene, rather than wait for employers and unions to negotiate lower penalty rate deals as is allowed under Labor's Fair Work Act.

But the new Prime Minister appeared ready to take the labour movement head on and launched an attack on Opposition Leader Bill Shorten for "bobbing" along with the Construction and Mining Union's "extreme" and "aggressively anti-Chinese" scare campaign. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Credit:Andrew Meares The unions oppose a single provision in the agreement that would allow Chinese workers to be imported to work on major infrastructure projects. The Department of Foreign Affairs says on its website that skilled labourers will only be given visas to work in Australia if no local workers can be found. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten Credit:Andrew Meares

"The China Australia Free Trade Agreement will not allow unrestricted access to the Australian labour market by Chinese workers," the department said on its website. "It will not allow Australian employment laws or conditions to be undermined, nor allow companies to avoid paying Australian wages by using foreign workers." Penalty rates have been a hot issue in the hospitality industry. The Construction, Forestry and Mining Union is running a national television campaign claiming Australian workers could be replaced by Chinese workers. One advertisement features the faces of white-skinned tradespeople in light bulbs being blown up.

"The Abbott government's deal allows Chinese Companies to bring in their own workers, leaving Australian workers without a hope," the male narrator says. "Tony Abbott made a choice, he just didn't choose you," the ad finishes. Mr Turnbull condemned the advertisements as "extreme scare-mongering" "designed to frighten people back into poverty". And he said the Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's silence showed the Labor party would always kowtow to its fundraising arm, even if it cost the national interest. "We're always open to talks … but his problem is that the CFMEU has run an extreme, scare-mongering campaign designed to frighten people which is aggressively anti-Chinese and absolutely contrary to our national interest," he said.

"And because he has been silent ... the only reasonable assumption is that he endorses it." "He is just bobbing along like a cork in the slipstream of the CFMEU," he said. Mr Turnbull promised to provide voters with an economic plan and said he would first show the public where he wants to charter the economy and the budget. "We have already seen a rise in business confidence because we have a government that is talking confidently about our future and is talking optimistically about our future," he said. "Its important that people understand where we want to get to and then of course we will design the policies we hope will take us on that journey," he said.

He said well considered decisions fostering productivity and innovation could be made quickly without being rushed but refused to say if new economic policies would be presented by the year's end. The Member for Wentworth said he had no plans to stray from the scheduled election timing when asked if it is still due around spring next year: "That's certainly what I'm assuming, unless you have a better idea … that's definitely the plan," he said. Follow us on Twitter Follow Latika Bourke on Facebook