Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I do not think I can match the contribution of the member for Canning and his extraordinary attack on a minister in the Western Australian government who is unknown to the rest of us. It was very entertaining and quite extraordinary. I am sure that Mr Probyn or someone in Western Australia will take notice of such a speech.

But I rise to talk about fairness for families and fairness for communities. This is a particularly important issue. We hear politicians talking about families and communities all the time. We know that people out in the community are working harder and harder. They often have to have dual incomes and put kids in child care. There is an extraordinary range of pressures on small businesses and workers around the place. The number of hours worked is higher than ever before and the share that goes to profits, as opposed to wages, is at historically high rates. Of the benefits that the economy provides to the community, a disproportionate amount now goes to business, as opposed to workers.

In South Australia the Weatherill government has taken some small initiatives as part of a deal to deregulate trading hours in the city to give some time back to families and communities by declaring part-day public holidays after 5 pm on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. This is a matter that is very dear to my heart because, in a previous life, I was an official of the shop assistants' union and a very proud member of that union beforehand. I remember working as a trolley collector in the industry. I have vivid memories of one Easter at Coles Burnside when we ran out of trolleys because there were so many people. They were pretty different times then and it was a different sort of work. I know there is a small army of night fillers and department store workers and fast food workers who have to work on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve to set up for sales, make sure the shelves are full and the ticketing is right and make sure people get served their hamburgers and french fries. These are profoundly antisocial and difficult times to work. They are times when you would prefer to be with your friends and family out in the community celebrating like the rest of us.

I have seen some of the debate in the South Australian parliament. A lot of the speeches by Liberal Party members of the state parliament focused not so much on the proposition before them but more on attacking the union and its legitimate influence in the community. It is more about attacking Mr Peter Malinauskas, who I think is a great union leader.

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