Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Inequality is not about having less money than your neighbour. It is not about having a basic home when your neighbour has a mansion. It is not even about whether your neighbour has a jetski in their garage and you don't. To me, inequality is about fairness. It's about having and maintaining hope. And it's about the ability to create a better future for you and your family. Labor understands the concept of inequality, because fighting inequality is the reason for the existence of the proud Australian Labor Party.

More than 100 years ago under a ghost gum, a Eucalyptus papuana, in Barcaldine, near the geographical centre of Queensland, striking shearers met to discuss the best ways to improve their poor working conditions and low wages. This occurred at a time when the wool industry was king. Under the grey leaves of that ghost gum, the shearers formed a compact to have their own representatives speaking for their interests in government. So the mighty Labor Party was born. It was born out of unequal treatment of the shearers, but the Labor Party has been fighting inequality wherever it occurs ever since that historic meeting.

We have achieved great things. For Indigenous Australians, the introduction of the Racial Discrimination Act ensured Indigenous Australians could no longer be discriminated against in employment, in working conditions, in remuneration and in housing. The Whitlam government's amendments to the Migration Act ensured that Indigenous Australians no longer had to ask permission before they could leave Australia. The first Commonwealth legislation to grant land rights to Indigenous people was also a Labor initiative. And the first welcome to country in Parliament House and that historic apology to Australia's Indigenous peoples in 2008 occurred on my first day at work here under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. For women, Labor's Conciliation and Arbitration Act extended the adult minimum wage to include women workers. We brought in national paid parental leave. We brought in affordable, flexible high-quality child care under Prime Minister Gillard. It was Labor who brought all Australians Medicare and accessible university and needs based education funding. All of these great Labor initiatives have, little by little, chipped away at inequality. But the good fight is never over, to paraphrase the member for Lilley—and, incidentally, one of the world's greatest-ever treasurers. In fact, the good fight has barely begun.

Inequality in our nation is getting worse. This is a fact. Real wages for the top 10 per cent of income earners have grown by 72 per cent over the last four decades—more than three times the rate of the increase in real wages for the bottom 10 per cent of income earners. The latest GDP figures show that 51.5 per cent of income went to employees, and that is the lowest percentage since September 1964. Over the past four years labour productivity has risen nearly six per cent—commendable; yet, real wages have fallen 0.6 per cent over the same time. The wealth gap continues to widen. In 2014, households in the top 20 per cent, the top quintile, owned 62 per cent of wealth, while the bottom 20 per cent owned less than one per cent. And home ownership rates are at a six-decade low, especially amongst younger people. Despite the Treasurer incorrectly asserting inequality had actually gotten better, it is undeniable that inequality has increased. Even the RBA governor, Dr Lowe, said just weeks ago that inequality 'grew quite a lot in the 1980s and the 1990s, and it has risen a little bit just recently'. It has 'become more pronounced in the past few years because of the rise in assets prices—people that own those assets have seen their wealth go up'.

Governments make choices. Their policies either fight inequality or entrench inequality. This Turnbull government is definitely entrenching inequality. You could see the member for Wentworth's attitude to inequality when he was fresh into parliament and voting for John Howard's disastrous Work Choices legislation. I quote the member for Wentworth:

You have to let the free market do its work and let the cost of setting the clearing price—be it for labour, shares, home units or loaves of bread—be as low as possible.

The next month, the coalition begins its fifth year in power; its fifth year in office. Let's consider their visionary proposals: firstly, slowing the rate of pension increases; secondly, cutting the income support bonus; and, thirdly, removing consumer protections from financial advice. I could go on and on. There are so many things that this government has done that entrenches inequality. They have even reduced the pay for people who clean their own parliamentary offices and given a tax cut to millionaires. At the same time, they have launched a relentless attack on working people, where wage growth has stalled, where penalty rates have been slashed and where tax increases have been imposed on the bottom 80 per cent of the workforce. They have attacked unions and workplace rights by launching an expensive, politically motivated royal commission. They established the ABCC and the Registered Organisations Commission. These measures are shifting the balance of power in workplace relations, allowing unscrupulous employers to engage in practices that avoid Fair Work Act obligations, such as sham contracts, dodgy labour hire companies and enterprise bargaining agreements that are terminated as a blunt, brutal negotiating weapon. These tactics are entrenching inequality in this sunburnt land.

Labor understands that inequality is an impediment to economic progress. Providing better opportunity for people to access education not only creates more opportunity for the individual but creates a better workforce for the country. Providing more affordable housing so that Australians can live close to where they work and providing better public transport for Australians to travel safety and efficiently to their work create a more productive workforce. Providing better connectedness with fast and secure internet across the capital cities and the regions would mean that part of the workforce would not need to leave their homes at all and it would also create many economic opportunities. Providing more secure employment for Australian workers would give them greater bargaining power in their workplaces.

Labor will tackle the issues that are entrenching inequality in Australia. In the important area of workplace relations, Labor will fight inequality. Bill Shorten has already committed to making sure that casual work is really that and that it will not be used to avoid giving employees the entitlements they should obtain when continuously working. Labor will increase penalties for employers who do not pay their employees properly, including companies whose business practices are built on the rampant underpayment of workers. Labor will give employees a fair go by making it harder for employers to push their workers into sham contracts that do not provide them with entitlements like sick leave and holiday pay. Labor will increase the penalties associated with phoenix activity, which some unscrupulous companies use in order to avoid paying their workers. Labor will create a level playing field for all workers in Australia, including temporary overseas workers, who are often exploited. Labor will restore penalty rates and awards and legislate so that they can never be cut again.

Labor will also tackle inequality in our taxation system. Rather than having a two-tiered system where some wealthier Australians can just opt-out of paying any tax, Labor will close the loopholes so that we all have one set of rules. The current negative gearing rules are unsustainable, and Labor will act prospectively to close this overexploited loophole. We'll limit the allowable deductions for accountant's advice and lawyer's advice to $3,000 for tax purposes. We'll introduce a standard minimum 30 per cent tax rate for discretionary trust distributions to people over 18 years of age. Labor believe that Australians should share one tax system that is fair for all. That's how we pay for the schools, the hospitals, the social services and the social fabric.

Inequality affects many aspects of our lives. It is not just about the economy, although that is an important aspect of inequality. It also has a big social aspect. With one woman murdered every week by a current or former partner, gender inequality is a serious problem in Australia. Labor announced policies before the last election to tackle gender inequality, including supporting survivors of domestic violence through the courts, funding critical frontline legal services, transitional housing options for women and children escaping family and domestic violence and making domestic and family violence leave a universal workplace right. Labor will continue to develop policies to address gender inequality wherever it occurs, whether it's in the workplace, in education—and I note the horrific recent report into sexual abuse in universities which reported that women experience assaults at a disproportionately higher rate than men—or in financial opportunities like accumulating superannuation.

No discussion about inequality would be complete without mentioning marriage equality. Because of the Prime Minister's weakness, a whole sector of our community will have to endure a public debate about whether they should have the same right to marry the person they love as I have. I can think of no good reason to prevent people who love each other from getting married. We in Labor stand together. Whether you're a police officer in Moorooka, a teacher in Macgregor, a truck driver in Acacia Ridge or a childcare worker in Yeronga, you're a success, and Labor will stand with you. I will call out inequality whenever I see it, and Labor will fight inequality in this parliament. (Time expired)

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