Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is with pleasure that I take this opportunity to address this MPI from the member for North Sydney. I acknowledge that many working families are facing cost of living pressures, but the government is taking the necessary steps to address those issues on almost a daily basis. In responding to the member for North Sydney’s MPI, I thought I might take the opportunity to look at the coalition’s record when they were in government.

The first thing that comes to mind is their failed Work Choices policy. We know Work Choices removed significant elements of people’s pay and conditions. Some 64 per cent of AWAs under that legislation removed annual leave loading. That in itself would put significant pressure on many working families. Some 63 per cent cut penalty rates—again taking money out of people’s pockets and making cost of living pressures more difficult for working families to respond to. Some 52 per cent cut shift-work loading and some 51 per cent of those AWAs cut overtime loading. Some 46 per cent cut public holiday pay for workers working outside of normal hours. Some 40 per cent cut rest breaks, which would have made work more uncomfortable and many workplaces far more dangerous, and some 36 per cent of those AWAs removed public holidays.

There is no doubt that the coalition’s record certainly put significant cost of living pressures on families and I think it is worth pointing that out. During the federal election we also had the farcical situation of Tony Abbott signing a blank piece of paper saying that Work Choices was dead.

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