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

I rise to speak about the importance of penalty rates. I note the member for Hume is in the chamber—he has been out calling for an abolition of penalty rates on Sundays. My experience of penalty rates comes from a mother who was a nurse and a partner of 23 years who was a shift worker working in child protection. So I have had that experience of having family members being away every second Christmas and working every second weekend. I have seen what that sacrifice is like. I have seen the importance of it in my own family, and I know how important it is for the 4½ million Australians who rely so heavily on penalty rates.

There are the young kids like my neighbours who go to work on a Sunday and the people I see on my morning walk on Sundays who have to make coffees and breakfasts that so many people access. I am yet to be lobbied by anyone in my electorate saying, 'I cannot access a coffee or a meal or a drink on Sundays.' With so many of the cafes that I go to, it is just not the reality at all in inner-city Brisbane. Kate Carnell and those who are talking about going back to central wage fixing have not recognised the fact that enterprise bargaining has been in since 1993. They should leave penalty rates alone. (Time expired)