Emma Husar (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'A pinch and a punch for the first day of the month' is a little rhyme that I'm sure all of us heard at some point in our childhood to remind us that a new month was coming and one was finishing. What have the young people got to look forward to going into the next month? It's not just a pinch and a punch; it's an actual knockout blow. On the first of next month what we're going to see is that all those kids who dared to aspire to go to university—because we've heard a lot about aspiration this week—are now going to be paying their HECS debts back when earning $45,000, reduced from $55,000. There are some people who would agree that was an okay thing to do and might be not so bad—certainly not on this side of the House—but this government was even crueller. It was even crueller to 700,000 people in our communities, who are going to be $77 a week worse off when they lose their penalty rates. So on the first day of next month all young people should be reminded that it is not a pinch and a punch; it is an actual knockout blow provided by those on the other side of this House. It is an absolute abhorrent outrage to treat young people who want to get ahead like this. It goes to further show how out of touch, how arrogant and how inconsiderate of what people in our communities need and rely on to get ahead the government are. Those opposite had eight times to vote against these penalty rate cuts, and every time they sold their communities and young people out.