Mal Brough (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I cannot help but comment on the member for Adelaide, who said that this generation will pay and the next generation will pay. She is absolutely right, because we are going to be paying $667 billion worth of debt, and so will all the children you are talking about. But you very conveniently forget to tell the truth that, if you actually ran an economy half decently, these issues would not have to be addressed by a responsible government.

I have risen in this place before to talk about youth unemployment on the Sunshine Coast and how we must work responsibly to do something positive for them. Today we have one of the highest levels of youth unemployment and these young people are being locked out of the labour market. I recently asked for comments on my Facebook page from local business people about the impact of penalty rates. I am for penalty rates—let me say that again: I am for penalty rates. I am just not for obscene penalty rates like double time and a half, which people simply cannot afford to pay young people to keep their doors open.

So here are a couple of verbatim comments from local business people. This is one from a supermarket owner: 'From our perspective, penalty rates are a problem. We crunched some numbers recently for our public holidays. The question was: is it worth opening on public holidays when we have to pay such high penalty rates? We found the business did not make any money opening on a public holiday. The profit went to the people working on the day. The upside is that it's still worth us operating due to the fact that when we don't open we still have to pay part- and full-time workers our fixed expenses. So, whilst we make no profit, our loss is minimised.' How extraordinary in a free enterprise system that your choice is between losing nothing or opening so that the people who put their own capital and their sweat into something can make no money.

Craig, who is a restaurant owner, says: 'I totally agree. We could employ more young people if it wasn't for weekend penalty rates. Maybe a youth award would help. At the moment we are paying far too much for people we are training.' He went on to say about the people he is training: 'We're trying to get them to do qualified work when in fact they are still in their apprenticeship or training phase.' Another one writes: 'I'm an ex-employer of other people. Now I only employ my wife and myself because we don't demand exorbitant wage rates.'

I now turn to real estate. If you are out hunting for a house, you expect to be able to pick up the phone and talk to someone at any time. Right now the Fair Work Commission is about to look at the real estate award 2010, and this is what the union is proposing: the abolition of commission-only employment, a 38-hour week Monday to Friday, penalty rates for weekend and evening work, a work value case to significantly increase wages, and fixed car and phone allowances.

I say to the Fair Work Commission: please start listening to real people in the real world who are trying to make this country work. You have put up wages for 19-year-olds in the retail sector, locking them out of the workforce. Apprentices are getting higher wages, so there are fewer apprentices. Now we are saying to another industry where people get a start: 'Bad luck—it's all over. Go and try somewhere else.' (Time expired)