Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

That was a pretty poor attempt from the Labor opposition to crab walk away from the clear statements they made, which they are clearly embarrassed about. There is no doubt that, in the submission that was written by the Leader of the Opposition when he was minister for employment, he said—clear as day—'The panel should also consider the fact that all low-paid workers do not necessarily live in low-income households.'

A journalist once asked the former Treasurer, the member for Lilley, 'Can I ask you about the national wage case today? The unions are pushing for $27-a-week increase. Do you think that is fair enough?' He said, 'I think everybody needs to recognise the circumstances that we are in at the moment and exercise a degree of restraint.'

The Labor Party, when they come and they talk about wages in this place, have egg on their face because, in their former lives as union officials, they traded away low-income workers' wages in return for the grubby cash payments that they stuffed into the union coffers to ensure that they could put a renovation on, put gold taps in the bathroom or whatever it was they did. But what they did not do—

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