Susan Lamb (Longman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) there are over 90,000 people employed in the accommodation sector of the hospitality industry and many of these are women;

(b) full time workers will have their take home pay cut because of the Fair Work Commission's (FWC's) decision to cut Sunday and public holiday penalty rates for the hospitality award;

(c) the base wage for a Level 1 guest service worker is less than $700 a week;

(d) the cut to Sunday penalty rates for these workers is $4.55 an hour, which is more than a fortnight's pay per year; and

(e) those affected are among our most industrially powerless workers in the economy and they have been made poorer;

(2) condemns Government Members and Senators who called for cuts to penalty rates and their continuous pressuring of the FWC to reduce penalty rates; and

(3) calls on:

(a) Government Members and Senators to stand with Labor to protect low paid workers take home pay; and

(b) the House to support Labor's Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Take Home Pay) Bill 2017, to amend the Fair Work Act 2009.

I rise today to move that this House condemns the savage cuts to the take-home pay of hardworking Australians that this government is so eager to pass. Time and time again we are hearing this government saying businesses will now be able to employ more people or that they will stay open longer. I know that the Turnbull government lives by the principle of 'If you repeat something often enough, then people will start believing it.' But no-one is falling for this. If you have a look at the accommodation sector of the hospitality industry as an example, base wage is less than $700 a week, and the cut is $4.55 an hour. This cut will result in the loss of over a fortnight's worth of take-home pay each year for these workers. I ask those opposite: for what? How are you going to attempt to spin this? Why would a hotel employ more people than they need to? Aren't they already employing the amount of people that they need? This does not make sense.

It is not only to the workers that this does not make sense. Just recently, the RSL and Services Clubs Association Queensland released a letter stating that their loyal employees do not deserve to have their pay reduced. Is there an organisation in this country more Australian than the RSL? There is one in every town and state. They are made up of service men and women who fought for the rights of Australians, and here they are now still having to fight for the rights of Australians.

Employers are against these cuts. Employees are against these cuts. If economists were to speak out against these cuts too, the government would have to concede that these cuts are a horrible idea. Do you know what? That is just what economists have done. Just yesterday The Sydney Morning Herald published comments from Richard Denniss, the chief economist from the Australia Institute think tank, whose conservative estimates indicate that cuts to penalty rates would blow a $650 million hole in the budget, through loss of personal income tax revenue and higher welfare costs. It says a lot about the government that they are so determined to attack workers and prey on the vulnerable that they are willing to take down our nation's economy with them. It is unbelievable.

My electorate of Longman is in the beautiful Moreton Bay region. It is one of the fastest-growing regions right across Australia. It is also a region that is home to workers in the electorates of Dickson and Petrie. These electorates are home to young families, new homebuyers, people who are working and living in the area—people who rely upon penalty rates, people who do not deserve a pay cut. I call on the member for Dickson—and I am glad the member for Petrie is here, because I call on him too—to stand with me and stand up for these workers and their families, because they need you. Do not turn your back when the region needs you. Do not turn your back on the workers of this region. They need us.

I challenge the member for Petrie—and I challenge the member for Brisbane as well, while he is here—when you next go back to a hotel, to a retail store, to a pharmacy, talk to the staff there. Talk to the people that you will be hurting if you pursue these changes. Try and look them in the eye when you do it and tell them how this is going to be good for them. Tell them how a cut is going to be good for them and their families, how that is going to help them raise their families, pay their mortgages and put food on the table. Tell them about that. Tell them how taking a cut to their take-home pay is going to be good for them.

Last week Labor introduced a private member's bill into this House which would not only stop the effect of this penalty rate decision but would further ensure that there would be no future decisions by this commission in order to prevent penalty rate cuts in other awards such as the clubs awards or health and beauty. The government have the capacity to stop these cuts and they can do it today. So the question is: why won't they? Why won't they stop these cuts to hardworking Australians in my electorate of Longman and in the electorates of Dickson and Petrie in the Moreton Bay Region? Why won't they stop them? (Time expired)

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