Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Margarita is a 58-year-old widow and grandmother who works as a housekeeper in a hotel. She is sitting in the gallery today. Because the Prime Minister supports cutting penalty rates, Margarita tells me that she will lose $2,000 from her take-home pay of about $30,000. She says this money is the difference between staying afloat or drowning in bills and costs. She wants to know: why is the Prime Minister doing nothing to stop her pay being cut?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We understand the battle that Margarita has. We understand that—all Australians do. We applaud her as a widow working hard, as so many Australians do. But I will say this: the honourable member has asserted that Margarita's employer is going to reduce her pay. Is that the case? I will give the Leader of the Opposition the opportunity to assure us that he has made that inquiry and that her pay will be cut.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Members on both sides will cease interjecting. The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The Leader of the Opposition has no capacity in question time to answer questions. He only has the capacity—

Government members interjecting—

Mr Champion interjecting—

Members on my right will cease interjecting. The member for Wakefield will cease interjecting. The Prime Minister has the call to continue his answer or we will move to the next question.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The honourable member has brought Margarita here. We applaud Margarita. She has an employer. But we do not know who the employer is. The employer has said he will cut her wages; is that right?

Mr Shorten interjecting—

Oh, no—the Leader of the Opposition is not prepared to go that far! The truth is that the one thing I can say for sure is that Margarita is lucky not to have the Leader of the Opposition representing her, because she would be sold down the river like the cleaners at Clean Event. Perhaps the honourable member, who will not tell us who the employer is, might tell us what the money—the $75,000—that came from Clean Event was really for. Those workers' penalty rates were reduced in a deal with the union that the opposition leader led.