Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The recent decision by the Fair Work Commission to cut penalty rates in retail, fast food, hospitality and pharmacy awards will have a devastating impact on low-paid workers. On behalf of regional Australia, I condemn the coalition government for not standing up for low-paid workers.

Nearly 700,000 low-paid workers, including some of the people here in the galleries today, will have their penalty rates cut, losing up to $77 per week. But why this is particularly disgraceful is: what we have got here is a movement of money away from the regions and into the big cities where the concentration of wealth is, with the owners of and the shareholders in these large retail chains. Where do they live? Perhaps in places like Toorak or perhaps in places like Wentworth.

It is another case, I think, where big business gets a $50 billion tax cut, and now we are taking penalty rates off the lowest-paid people in our country. There are kids who want to get themselves through university, and we are taking money off them—$77 a week—to put in the pockets of the big corporate owners. Do you notice a trend here? That is a trend we are seeing in our country. It is no good. We should be backing low-paid workers, not taking money off them. (Time expired)