Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The decision to cut penalty rates for hospitality, retail, fast-food and pharmacy workers is a horrible blow to the 700,000 low-paid workers who rely on them. We have not seen a decision like this before, where there is a real cut to wages of some of their lowest earners, and no-one could have imagined it. It comes at a time when we have the lowest wage growth in 20 years and the greatest inequality. What the decision says is that, if you are a low-income retail worker, your Sundays are no longer important to you, your family or your friends. You do not count, but everybody else either does not work on a Sunday or gets full penalty rates.

This will hit hardest the young. It will hit women. It will hit the regions. The economic danger is that, if you take money out of the pockets of low-paid workers, you are taking it out of the economy. The lower your pay, the more likely you are to need to spend it all on food, on rent, on petrol and on bills, and this pay cut means people will struggle just to cover the necessities. So it is local businesses in regional areas who will feel the brunt of the loss of disposable income. Remember: the argument from the Liberals pushing for penalty rate cuts has been, 'This will lead to more jobs,' but in fact it is just going to lead to workers having to work extra hours. This is a decision that will hurt workers and their families. It is a decision that will hurt local economies. And it is a bad decision.