Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to move the following motion:

That the House:

(1)      notes:

(a)   unless this Parliament acts, the decision to cut the Sunday penalty rates of nearly 700,000 Australian workers will come into force as early as 1 July this year;

(b)   on Monday, the Labor Party sought to introduce legislation to stop this pay cut;

(c)   on Tuesday, the Prime Minister said he supported the decision to cut penalty rates;

(d)   the Prime Minister has been willing to legislate when he has objected to past decisions of Australian courts, tribunals and commissions including;

  (i)   legislating to overturn a Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal decision;

  (ii)   legislating to pre-empt a Fair Work Commission decision about the Country Fire Authority; and

  (iii)   introducing legislation to overturn a decision of the Full Bench of the Federal Court about Native Title;

(e)   the Prime Minister has the power to stop these pay cuts for nearly 700,000 Australians; and

(f)   under the Turnbull Government, when companies receive record profits, they get a tax cut, and when wages flatline, workers get a pay cut;

(2)      calls on the Government to legislate to prevent the pay cut from going ahead; and

(3)      agrees therefore, to suspend so much of standing orders as would prevent the Leader of the Opposition immediately introducing the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Take Home Pay) Bill 2017, the bill being given priority over all business for passage through all stages without interruption, and if consideration of the bill has not concluded by 3.30 pm today, any necessary questions to complete consideration of the bill being put without delay.

Leave not granted.

I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Maribyrnong from moving the following motion forthwith:

That the House:

(1)      notes:

(a)   unless this Parliament acts, the decision to cut the Sunday penalty rates of nearly 700,000 Australian workers will come into force as early as 1 July this year;

(b)   on Monday, the Labor Party sought to introduce legislation to stop this pay cut;

(c)   on Tuesday, the Prime Minister said he supported the decision to cut penalty rates;

(d)   the Prime Minister has been willing to legislate when he has objected to past decisions of Australian courts, tribunals and commissions including;

  (i)   legislating to overturn a Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal decision;

  (ii)   legislating to pre-empt a Fair Work Commission decision about the Country Fire Authority; and

  (iii)   introducing legislation to overturn a decision of the Full Bench of the Federal Court about Native Title;

(e)   the Prime Minister has the power to stop these pay cuts for nearly 700,000 Australians; and

(f)   under the Turnbull Government, when companies receive record profits, they get a tax cut, and when wages flatline, workers get a pay cut;

(2)      calls on the Government to legislate to prevent the pay cut from going ahead; and

(3)      agrees therefore, to suspend so much of standing orders as would prevent the Leader of the Opposition immediately introducing the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Take Home Pay) Bill 2017, the bill being given priority over all business for passage through all stages without interruption, and if consideration of the bill has not concluded by 3.30 pm today, any necessary questions to complete consideration of the bill being put without delay.

This is the most out-of-touch government in Australian history. You could not write the plot—a conservative government offering on one hand tax cuts for multinationals but on the other hand pay cuts for low-paid workers; a government which will fight tooth and nail to give big banks a tax cut but do absolutely nothing to stop a pay cut for hundreds of thousands of workers. The motto of the Turnbull government is: tough on those who are doing it tough and soft on the big end of town.

This pay cut is not about a spreadsheet, it is not about a set of figures on a desk or a table and it is not about simple economics; it is about the lives that people live. Today in question time several individual stories of people who will be affected by this pay cut from 1 July were put to the Prime Minister. What response did we get from this out-of-touch Prime Minister? 'It's not my business. It's not my decision. It's not my problem.' What they do instead is just attack the Labor Party. The problem they have got here is that this pay cut could not have come at a worse time for Australians.

I acknowledge that the big end of town is doing well under the Turnbull government, but what I do not accept is that, when wages growth flatlines, somehow cutting wages is an economic recipe for including all Australians in our prosperity. It is incredibly interesting that yesterday in the national accounts, which the Treasurer is so proud of, corporate profits were shown to be the highest in 40 years, but what we see is that wages in this country have risen at the lowest level in 20 years—and, yes, I do think that last fact is a shame.

We see young people getting it in the neck again. This is a government at war with young people. It wants to increase their HECS, it wants to make it more expensive to go to TAFE with the loan system it has, and what it also wants to do is make it impossible for them to buy their first home with its trenchant defence of negative gearing in the future, and now we have a pay cut which will disproportionally fall on the young. No wonder young people are bemused at it being called the 'Gilmore gift', because young people do not deserve the sorts of attacks they are getting from this government.

Then, of course, there are women. If we hear one more time—

Mr Rob Mitchell interjecting—

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