Alannah Mactiernan (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Earlier this week in the chamber the member for Canning once again made a disgraceful attack on hard-working blue-collar Western Australians. This time his focus was on the guys steering the big ore ships in and out of Port Hedland. I want to set the record straight.

The member for Canning claimed that those working on tugboats towing ships out of Port Hedland get paid $135,000 a year, that they work for just six months a year and that they want a 40 per cent pay rise.

Yes, they do get paid 135,000 per year—much less than the member himself is paid—

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Vocational Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Better buy a house in Cairns!

Alannah Mactiernan (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, that is right! I am sure they all want to buy a house in Cairns! But it is not an outrageous sum for FIFO workers.

But everything else the member said was wrong. Like most in the mining industry, the tugboat workers are rostered on swings. They work 28 days on and 28 days off. But their 28 days are not regular nine-to-five hours, Monday to Friday. They work a minimum of 12 hours a day, seven days a week and often in split shifts. In fact, if you do the maths, they work around 39 hours per week every week of the year.

Like most workers, including miners and workers on offshore oil and gas projects and like many of the fly-in fly-out workers in the seat of Canning, they are asking for four weeks leave each year. Their pay claim is for a maximum of 15.5 per cent over four years, or 3.8 per cent—not the 40 per cent claimed by the member for Canning.

I ask the member for Canning to stop demonising these hard-working Western Australians and to realise that the availability of well-paying jobs for hard-working people who are prepared to do the hard yards and to work those long hours is really part of why we support the minerals industry so strongly. Indeed, it is why the community supports it. If you take away those jobs you will take away that support.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It being nearly 5 o'clock I declare that the House stands adjourned until 10 am next Monday.

House adjourned at 17:00

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Hon. BC Scott ) took the chair at 09:00.