Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I am rising tonight to speak about an issue that is very critical to my electorate and is indeed a critical issue facing this country: protecting penalty rates and the terrible impact that the Fair Work Commission's decision will have on people in my electorate. I, along with I think the majority of ordinary Australians, was shocked and appalled when the Fair Work Commission announced that it would cut penalty rates for workers in the retail, hospitality, fast food and pharmaceutical sectors, and of course I joined everyone on this side of the House to express that outrage. What was severely lacking, though, was outrage from those on the other side. There was no outrage from the Liberal and Nationals parties about the fact that these cuts to penalty rates will rip $77 a week from the pockets of around 700,000 hardworking Australians.

In my electorate the retail sector is the second-biggest employer, employing shy of 9,000 people.

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