Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today I rise to advise the House of an electronic petition I have been made aware of. More than 750 people have signed a petition started by Vanessa Harmer, a United Voice member and paramedic who is worried about losing her weekend and evening penalty rates due to the government's new individual contracts.

The petition reads:

Tony Abbott: please respect our sacrifice. Please respect the sacrifices of hard-working Australians and withdraw your new laws allowing weekend and evening pay rates to be stripped and traded away. Australians trusted you when you promised that you would not touch our weekend and evening pay rates. These new laws are a betrayal of that commitment.

That is why over 750 people have signed the petition calling on the government to back away from the amendments to the Fair Work Act introduced into this parliament. It is because the government has betrayed the commitment they made to the Australian people prior to the election. United Voice Victoria members like Vanessa are the backbone of our community. They are paramedics, they are cleaners, they are bakers and they are security guards, who all work around the clock to keep our society functioning. They make an extraordinary sacrifice and do an important job, and they deserve to be compensated for these sacrifices.

I call on the government to back away from these radical new laws, which will effect so many. While allowing their employers to trade off penalty rates, and take them away from people, the community knows—just as United Voice Victoria members like Vanessa knows—that this government has once again broken their promise.

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