Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this motion to suspend standing orders because this is a matter of national importance, and it is about time the Prime Minister, for once in his life, stood up for workers in this country. All we heard in that last 10 minutes was everybody else's opinion except for the Prime Minister's. We heard nothing in support of workers in this country, those hundreds of thousands of workers who will be worse off as a result of this decision. Indeed, what we have seen instead is the rank hypocrisy of the Prime Minister.

When there was an order of the independent umpire to increase the rates of pay for truck drivers, it did not take him too long to come into this place and revoke that order and indeed abolish the independent umpire. So he cannot come into this place and argue that we cannot make a change to this decision, because he did that exactly when it came to the truck drivers of this country. He did that, too, when it came to professional firefighters. In fact, this government, when it chooses to, will use this place, the parliament, to water down conditions of employment and water down rates of pay for workers in this country.

For all his working life, Bill Shorten has stood up for workers in this country. This Prime Minister only stands up for banks. In fact, this week we have a contrast in this place. We have the government introducing a tax cut of $50 billion for banks and big business while, at the same time, the opposition is seeking to bring on a bill that will protect hundreds of thousands of workers in this country. That is the difference. That is the big difference.

The fact is that we have seen the lowest wage growth in more than 20 years in this country. Inequality is at a 75-year high. These things do matter. If the Prime Minister was in touch with what was going on, if there was any real empathy for working families who are struggling to make ends meet, you would have seen the Prime Minister join Labor and support our position to look after those families. Instead, despite the fact that there is a precedent already by this Prime Minister to intervene in an independent umpire's decision, he has chosen to turn his back on hundreds of thousands of workers in this country. That is not good enough. There are times in this place where a decision comes about and you have to stand up and decide which side you are on. Today the Prime Minister made a decision that he is not on the side of workers in this country. He has chosen instead to support this decision which will have a harsh impact on too many people.

Let me make it very clear. The opposition will continue to campaign and continue to prosecute the argument that working families deserve decent conditions of employment, particularly at a time when there is low wage growth, when inequality is getting worse in this country and when cost-of-living pressures are such that people cannot afford to pay the rent, pay the mortgage, put food on the table or put petrol in the car. Families are struggling today as cost-of-living pressures increase, and yet we do not see any effort by the Prime Minister or this government to show concern for them. Labor, every day from this day forward until election day, will make sure that the Prime Minister wears the decision of today. He will wear this decision because, in the end, the Australian people will understand. You made a choice—he has made a choice, but it is the wrong choice, Prime Minister.

This is a very damning day for the parliament, a parliament that has already interfered with other decisions. You had an opportunity—in fact, you still have an opportunity. There is legislation being proposed by the opposition that you could support. You could join with us today. As the Leader of the Opposition said, we do not want to argue over this; we want to enlist your support to look after those workers. We are not seeing that happen today. As a result, we will see some retail workers in this country lose up to $6,000 a year. We are going to see retail workers currently working eight-hour shifts on Sundays having to work 10-hour shifts just to get the same amount of money. That is not fair, and the Australian people know fairness and unfairness when they see it. They will never forget the Prime Minister's position on this matter today.

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