Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hunter, who came to this place fighting for same-job same-pay laws. For workers in the electorate of Hunter and around Australia, they started in effect on Friday, so those laws that those on this side supported and those opposite opposed are finding their way into people's pay packets. The question asks about the results and the response. The results are now in people's pay packets, and the response from those opposite is that this is all at risk at the election. This is one of the areas they have targeted and the opposition leader has announced they would get rid of. He might not like costed policies, but he really likes policies that cost—policies that cost workers and policies that cost households.

At the Batchfire mine, in Queensland, 320 labour hire workers will receive pay rises of up to $20,000 a year. Every dollar is at risk under those opposite. In relation to Australian Country Choice production meatworks, the meatworkers' unions estimated that 200 labour hire workers there are now getting a pay rise of up to $500 a week. We stood up to Qantas when Qantas were arguing that labour hire workers should be underpaid. In fact, what did the Leader of the Opposition say? I will quote the Leader of the Opposition. His words were 'full credit to Alan Joyce'—full credit to Alan Joyce for labour hire workers to be paid less. Yet 2,450 cabin crew at Qantas are being converted to direct employment, seeing pay rises of $300 a week; 800 labour hire flight attendants, pay rises up 28 per cent. The coalition called same job, same pay a made-up issue. Senator Hume said workers getting these wage increases would be 'the worst thing'. We now need to find out from the Leader of the Opposition: Is his plan on repealing these to directly cut their pay? To freeze their pay? To allow labour hire back in so that they are simply made redundant and have to come back and apply for their own jobs? No matter which way you cut it, the policies of those opposite are taking to the election put these pay rises at direct threat and are saying to these workers that those opposite believe that they are being paid too much and they want to cut their pay.

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