Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will continue, thank you very much Mr Deputy Speaker. Look at the chaos of those opposite—stand up here and defend your position; stand up here and justify why you will not let us bring this debate on. Stand up here and say why you do not want to support us on this. Seven hundred thousand people are about to have their take-home pay cut. Support the bill. Support the discussion about the bill. Bring on the debate now. Do not let it lapse. Here is your chance as a government to support low-paid workers. Otherwise, stand up and make your statement. Why do you want to stop the House from proceeding with this debate? Why does the government not want to allow this House to have this debate?

This is a chance for the government to do the right thing by 700,000 low-paid workers. This is reform that will strengthen the Fair Work Commission and allow and encourage them to make decisions that will not cut take-home pay. These are people on the smallest of margins—in hospitality, in retail and in pharmacy. And we know it will happen in the rest of the community. We know that other industries also want to cut take-home pay. That is why it is so important that this government allows us to have this debate. That is why it is so important that those opposite cross the floor and support the member for Gorton's motion so that we can fix this and ensure that people's take-home pay is not cut as result of the changes that Fair Work have made in cutting penalty rates. Stop the pay cut. This is your chance to stand with Labor and vote up the member for Gorton's motion so that we can stop the pay cut for 700,000 workers immediately—not to mention those who are also in the firing line. That includes people who work in beauty, hairdressing, clubs and in a number of other industries who are also now facing their industry asking for their penalty rates to be cut. This is a problem that Labor has identified. We have done the hard work and drafted the changes to ensure that we as a parliament can protect take-home pay for our lowest paid workers.

Here is a chance for those opposite to stand up, cross the floor and support the member for Gorton's motion to make sure we protect take-home pay. Here is your chance. Or at least get up and defend why you will not allow us to have the discussion and to have the debate. I urge those opposite to do the right thing, support these low-paid workers and fix the loopholes in Fair Work so we can make sure we protect take-home pay.

See this speech in context