Mayo Liberal candidate Georgina Downer says the minimum wage is "about right" after previously pushing for it to be abolished along with penalty rates.

Key points: Georgina Downer previously advocated abolishing the minimum wage and penalty rates

Georgina Downer previously advocated abolishing the minimum wage and penalty rates Now she says the Fair Work Commission "get it about right"

Now she says the Fair Work Commission "get it about right" She has also raised concerns about the risks of drilling for oil in the Great Australian Bight

In an interview with ABC Radio Adelaide this morning, Ms Downer backtracked on comments she made while working at the Institute of Public Affairs about the role of the Fair Work Commission.

In 2017, she said the minimum wage and penalty rates should be abolished.

Last year, she said the commission set "artificially high wages".

Today, she changed her tune.

"I think they basically do get it about right, but it's an independent process, which I think is important," she said.

"We shouldn't have people's wages treated like political footballs."

Last year, she told ABC Radio Adelaide putting up wages through "artificial means like increasing the minimum wage" was "putting a barrier in front of people who want to enter the workforce".

Ms Downer is fighting for the Liberal Party to regain the Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu Peninsula and Kangaroo Island seat from Centre Alliance MP Rebekha Sharkie, who holds it on a 2.9 per cent margin.

Concerns about drilling in the Bight

In an opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald in 2016, Ms Downer welcomed Donald Trump's election as President of the United States, supporting his calls to cut income and corporate tax, deregulate the economy and reduce government spending.

She said his election was a "big rejection of the international environmental movement and its fatwa against carbon".

On radio this morning, Ms Downer said there was "a lot of community concern" about Norwegian oil company Equinor's proposal to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight.

"In Mayo, people are concerned and we have got to ask questions about what sort of environmental harm drilling in the Bight will cause — not just to communities in Mayo but communities around Australia," Ms Downer said.

She said she was looking forward to the independent body, the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA), making a decision on the project.

"Equinor really has to do a lot better in convincing South Australians that there is something in this project for us," she said.

"Quite frankly, a lot of people I speak to in Mayo think we are going to carry all the environmental risks and not receive any of the benefits of this project."

Protesters against Equinor's plans for oil drilling at Brighton in Adelaide yesterday. ( ABC News: Ben Nielsen )

Ms Sharkie has written to every member of the Norwegian Parliament to condemn the proposal.

The Norwegian Government has a 67 per cent stake in Equinor.

"It's such a huge risk to all the other investment right across the region for oil that won't be refined here in Australia, let alone even in South Australia, and it won't be used by Australians," Ms Sharkie said.

"There's no real value in this for us, just risk."

She said her concerns dated back to before she was ever a federal election candidate.

"I have been on the public record opposing risky oil drilling in the Bight ever since the 2016 election," she said.

Hundreds of people took to Adelaide's Brighton beach yesterday to protest against the proposal.

"Not only is it at the wrong place, but it's at the wrong time in history," Wilderness Society South Australian director Peter Owen said.

"We can't allow the fossil fuel industry pushing to expand at the very point we know we've got to be transitioning out of that industry to have any chance of a liveable climate into the future."

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 4 minutes 44 seconds 4 m 44 s The Business looks at the debate over wages ahead of the federal budget.

Murray-Darling constitution change opposed

The Centre Alliance intends to introduce legislation to amend the Australian constitution so decisions on the Murray River will not need the agreement of all basin states.

Ms Downer said changing the constitution risked provoking more criticism of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

All the basin states and the Commonwealth signed an agreement on the management of the system in December.

"What concerns me about all these strategies proposed by Centre Alliance is we are not ensuring we have one drop of extra water coming to South Australia from these proposals," she said.

Ms Sharkie defeated Liberal Jamie Briggs at the 2016 election.

She went on to regain the seat against Ms Downer in the by-election held last year, following Ms Sharkie's resignation after revealing she was ineligible to be an MP as a dual citizen.

Ms Downer's father, Alexander Downer, represented Mayo from 1984 to 2008 and was foreign minister from 1996 to 2007.