Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Occasionally in Australian politics you get one day or one event which sums up everything that is wrong with a government and which makes the choice before the Australian people crystal clear. That day will come in 10 days time, on 1 July, when 700,000 Australian workers will get a pay cut. They will get a pay cut for committing the crime of leaving their families on a Sunday. They will get a pay cut for committing the crime of giving up a day which has been regarded as a special day for as long as there have been industrial awards and agreements in Australia. On that same day, it will be a good day for some people because, on that same day, Australians on a high income will get not a pay cut but a tax cut. That says it all about this government and its wrong priorities. Also on that day, because of this government's policy paralysis, wrong values and twisted competence, many of those families who will take a pay cut will also start paying more for their electricity—under this government, which said so much about energy prices in opposition and in government.

Let us go through these issues one by one. On 1 July, it will be unusual for Australian workers to have a pay cut. Australian workers, for years, have benefited from Australia's economic success. It has been agreed that that economic success should be shared. There have been times when the industrial commissions—which many members on this side of the House are known to have been involved in—have said: 'Look, we're going to negotiate. There's going to be some give and some take. We're going to get a more flexible arrangement, and some people might make a contribution and other people will be worse off.' This is not one of those times. This is just a straight cut to take-home wages. That does not require any imagination or any intelligence. This is just a cut. It is the first time in many, many decades that Australians will be facing a pay cut, at a time of record-low wages growth, when real wages are actually going backwards.

The Reserve Bank governor, not a man given to radical statements, just this week said that real wages growth in Australia was a crisis. The Treasurer says increasing real wages is the government's biggest economic challenge. Now, I always try to be reasonable and I always look for an opportunity to be bipartisan. I think: 'Yes, I agree with the Treasurer. This is one of the government's and the nation's greatest challenges.' But that is as far as I can go, because they have a different solution. The Treasurer's solution to real wages growth being too low is to cut wages further. I cannot agree with that. We on this side of the House cannot agree with that. The Treasurer and the government are letting this happen on their watch.

Let us have none of this nonsense that there is nothing that they can do and that it is all too hard because it has been agreed by an independent commission, and the government could not possibly intervene. Well, the parliament, in this term, are overturning a Federal Court decision on native title with which they do not agree. The government overturned a decision of the Remuneration Tribunal when it comes to truck drivers because they did not agree. But they sit by and watch this one be implemented. Why? Because it affects low-income earners, because it affects women and young people in particular, and because they agree with that. Just yesterday, every member of the government, with one exception, voted to cut wages for these workers. Every single one said, 'We will not intervene; we will do nothing.' The member for Gorton gave them the opportunity, moving amendments to say that we will not stand for this, and members opposite said, 'No; we will let it stand.' This is the approach taken by the government, and they know who is going to pay the price: Australian workers who can ill afford it.

We have a gender pay gap in Australia which has not moved for 20 years. For 20 years, we have made no improvement when it comes to female wages in Australia relative to male wages. Equal pay became the law of Australia in 1969 and yet, right across Australia, women are paid less than men. I tell you what, Mr Deputy Speaker, we as a parliament are about to let that situation get worse on our watch, thanks to this government, because the majority of workers in the hospitality sector and in retail are women, and women are more likely to work on a weekend as well. This government says, 'Yes, cut their wages.' We say no. We say they should not be cut. We say we should be improving female pay, not making it worse, and yet this government says it is okay. On the same day as this happens, workers across the country lose their pay.

Let me say in this debate as well: what this government is doing by delaying the legislation on worker exploitation in relation to 7-Eleven for 12 months is nothing short of a scandal. It is nothing short of a scandal that this government chooses to let this situation maintain for another 12 months. We have seen footage of workers being forced to go to ATMs to withdraw their wages and give them back to their employers, and this government is going to let that situation maintain for another 12 months? Shame on them—this is a scandal!

At the same time the government does have its priorities sorted, it is going to give a tax cut to high-income earners, on the very same day. Somebody earning $200,000 will get a $400 tax cut. Somebody earning half a million dollars will get $6,400, and somebody earning $1 million will get $16,400 a year in tax cuts. And the government says there is nothing they can do about that either. If only they had a responsible position where they could use to actually do something for the people of Australia—I don't know, like Prime Minister or Treasurer, maybe? They say there is nothing they can do because it is legislated that it be temporary. As we have said before, all those harsh cuts in the 2014 budget, which affected earners on low and middle incomes, were not temporary; they were permanent.

They did not say to Australia's low-income earners: 'Just help us out for a little while. You're just going to have to take a cut to the pension and wait longer for Newstart, just till we're back in surplus. Then we'll restore the situation.' The only measure in the 2014 budget which was temporary was the only one which impacted on high-income earners, yet this government lets that situation continue. We were told we would keep the deficit levy until we were in surplus. Last time I checked, the deficit is going to be 10 times bigger than what Joe Hockey told us in 2014 and yet this government says, 'No, we've got to get the tax cut through for millionaires and high-income earners.' And the government now says that we need a tax rise, but they are going to give that tax rise to every Australian who earns more than $21,000 a year, while giving a tax cut to those earning more than $180,000.

This is a government which will not act on negative gearing and will not act on capital gains and will continue to allow high-income earners to use, as a tax deduction, as much as they want for managing their tax affairs. They actually say, 'We'll let you use as much as you want to pay your fancy lawyers and your accountants, and you can get your income of over $1 million down to zero, and we think that's just fine.' Well, we do not think that. We think that should be fixed and reformed. We think that Australia's high-income earners can pay as much as they want to their lawyers and their accountants, but only $3,000 will be subsidised by every other taxpayer in Australia. That is our policy and one that they should implement as well.

On 1 July, Australian families will be paying more for their energy, and I just want to deal briefly with this, because it goes to the paralysis and hypocrisy of this government. The Prime Minister has been waxing lyrical about how he is taking tough action on gas exports and how it is going to put downward pressure on energy prices. Thank goodness for Malcolm Turnbull! Nobody else would have thought of a policy to deal with gas exports. Nobody else would have thought of one, apart from the Labor Party. I recall a press conference with myself and the member for Isaacs at Dandenong, at a factory, announcing a policy on gas exports during the last election. The member for Port Adelaide and I announced that policy, and the member for Isaacs joined me for the announcement. I also recall the reactions from members opposite, including our old friend, the now Minister for Energy and Environment, who said it was a 'sovereign risk for Australia', that it was unacceptable protectionism. It was an attack on the Australian economy. It would be an investment killer. Now he boasts, late to the party, that he has decided to deal with exports of gas.

This is just another example of how this side of House leads the policy debate in Australia; how this side of House, on every single issue, has identified the needs of Australia and has identified, more importantly, the right policy response. Every time members opposite have engaged in a scare campaign, in rhetoric and in slogans and every time they have gone the low road they have been caught out. And on 1 July this year, they will be caught out more than ever before, as the Australian people see, in a way which is crystal clear, that when it comes to the values for Australia, this government gets it wrong.

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