Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about a constituent of mine, young Callum. Callum comes to visit me every now and then, and we have our little chats. He is studying international relations and Japanese, and he wants to work in the field, so we have developed a great bond over our love of the field. We talk to each other regularly and I give him advice about his career.

Callum is in his early 20s and he works at BigW at the shopping centre where my electorate office is located. He is working to pay his way and support himself through university. He works weekends and nights in order to do that, and for that he earns penalty rates. He misses out on a lot of late nights with his friends because he has to work the next morning. He misses out on watching the footy. He misses out on time with his family. He does all this because he wants to be independent. He wants to be able to see his own way through university, to pay his fees and to not rely on his parents, who cannot afford to pay for him anyway.

The government should make it easier for ambitious young people like Callum, who bears all the hallmarks of a future leader. In my time I have mentored many young men and women, particularly young men, and Callum is one of the smartest young men—and one of the most ambitious, I might add—that I have had the pleasure to mentor in my life. But instead of supporting people like Callum—people who are ambitious and have leadership skills and who want to get ahead—we have a Liberal government that is intent on ripping money out of their pockets, as well as out of the pockets of millions of Australians. It is just not right and it is just not fair, particularly for someone like Callum.

The weekend means something in Australia. I do not buy this argument that Sunday is like every other day. Anybody who still has a Sunday roast with their family or gets together with their mates and their family over a Sunday barbecue would recognise that the weekend still occupies a special place in our Australian culture. It is when we get to recharge, relax, watch the footy—although, I must admit, I do not watch footy, but I do like a bit of ice hockey. It is when we get to take our kids to do their team sport, go to the beach or spend some time with our loved ones. If you sacrifice your time with your loved ones, then you deserve to be compensated for that. It is not selfish or entitled to suggest that workers deserve to have a life. But it is selfish and entitled for the Canberra elite, who are busy trying to claim as much taxpayer money as possible for personal expenses, to decide that weekends do not matter for people like Callum. In fact, it is a disgrace. Quite frankly, it is time for Malcolm Turnbull and this Liberal government to save our weekend penalty rates. (Time expired)