Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This Sunday, penalty rates will be cut across this country. That will impact on a possible 17,000 people in my community. It is a direct, arbitrary cut to their wages with no negotiation, no adjustment to base rates and no improvement in conditions—just a cruel, cold cut. And this government will not stop it. They could today, but they'll choose not to. They could come in here right now and tell us that that's what they're going to do, but they won't. In the context of wages flatlining and business profits at record highs, this out-of-touch government says: 'That's okay. We'll give you a $10 tax cut.' This is a cut of $77 a week, and that is $10 to replace it. Under Labor, Bill Shorten will put penalty rates back, and Labor will double that tax cut for 10 million Australians.

It's a clear choice confronting the Australian people. We on this side of the House stand for fairness: we want a fairer country. Those on that side of the House are defined by their cruel cuts.