Emma Husar (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Prime Minister—I withdraw. This is the real world, Prime Minister! And these are real people facing a real wage cut. I just wish that he would wake up.

At a time when wages growth is stagnant—it shouldn't even be called wages growth because how can it grow if it's stagnant? There is no money. The cost of living pressures are rising. In my electorate, we already face a three per cent higher cost of living than other people in the Sydney area because there are no jobs. There is one job for every 200 residents, and most people have to commute to and from work. Not only will they lose pay cuts, but they can also get a 20 per cent rise in their electricity prices—thanks to the New South Wales Liberal government for selling all of our assets—and, now they're going to pay an extra $9 a day in tolls. You add all of those real wage cuts. They will not be going back into those households to pay high rents, incredibly high mortgages or put their children through school, after-school activities or sport.

I am absolutely proud to stand here as a member of the Labor Party and stand up for every single person in the country who relies on penalty rates, including those people who you represent, member for Petrie, because, obviously, the government have not, and they will not, come in here to defend those people who rely on them. A Shorten Labor government will reverse these pay cuts and make sure it cannot happen again. Labor's legislation will reverse this recent decision to cut penalty rates and change the law to protect the overall take-home pay of working Australians, and it is a shame that we don't see this Prime Minister as committed to looking after the workers and protecting their jobs and their pay as he is for his own.

Opposition members: Hear, hear!

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