Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to invite the Prime Minister to come and visit the electorate of Lalor, and to suggest that he bring the Minister for Women, Senator Cash, with him, so that the next time he is on a train between Spencer Street station and Geelong he gets off at Wyndham Vale or Tarneit station and goes for a bit of a wander around my electorate, because I think I have identified his problem: the problem for this Prime Minister is that he is in an alternative universe to the one the rest of us live in—certainly the one that families in my electorate live in.

Yesterday the Prime Minister failed to answer questions about what was in the government's submission to the Fair Work Commission on an increase to the minimum wage. This morning we know why. We know why those questions were not answered yesterday. It appears that someone forgot to read the draft and actually submitted something that someone wrote as a joke. The submission argues that an increase in the minimum wage will not do anything to address the gender pay gap in this country—that a pay rise for the lowest paid in this country, of whom the majority are women, will do nothing to reduce the gender pay gap. It is absolutely illogical.

The government argued that those earning the minimum wage are young, female and childless and come from wealthy families. What on earth has coming from a wealthy family got to do with what you should be paid for a fair day's work? It is beyond belief that this should be an argument put by this government. And I am only picking out a few things to discuss about this submission—this draft submission, I would suggest. Nothing I have heard in my 3½ years here demonstrates more for me how out of touch this government is with the real world.

Clearly there is a view held by some in this house that every Australian is born into a strong nuclear family, where dad has at least a master’s degree, or is running his very own successful business and is on a good salary, where mum works part-time to keep busy and bring in a bit of pocket money, and where, when the children grow to be teenagers, they might get a nice little job, a nice little earner, to save for their trip to Europe. Well, I do not begrudge wealth. I hope the children who are able to do that have a great gap year. I hope they have a great time—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 12:48 to 13 : 00

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