Cathy O'Toole (Herbert, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in this place today to speak on behalf of the 700,000 workers in Australia who have had their penalty rates cut under the Turnbull government. Workers across Australia and particularly in my electorate of Herbert rely on penalty rates to make ends meet and fundamentally to survive. These workers rely on their penalty rates to raise their families, pay their mortgages, if they can afford one, pay electricity bills, buy food and pay the many other bills that keep going up and up under this government.

In my electorate of Herbert, nearly 13,000 retail, hospitality and accommodation workers have had their pay cut. As of 1 July this year, the second round of penalty rate cuts impacted on some of the lowest-paid and most vulnerable workers. These cuts go far deeper and will take $77 a week from workers in the retail, food and accommodation sectors. That $77 could buy a tank of petrol to get the worker to work; $77 could buy groceries to feed the family; $77 could pay for children's weekly sporting activities; $77 could pay for new textbooks and school activities for students. The Prime Minister and those opposite should be ashamed of themselves, because, for a retail worker, $77 a week could be the difference between putting three square meals on the table or having only two or one. Instead of standing up for these workers and protecting their penalty rates, the Turnbull government simply turned away, leaving these workers out of pocket. In fact, the Prime Minister has said their penalty rates were outdated. Since when has earning a fair day's pay for a fair day's work, including penalty rates, been outdated? What a disgrace! The cost of living is going up, but workers' pay rates are stagnating. I'm here today to say enough is enough.

In my electorate of Herbert, 7,248 retail workers and 5,674 accommodation service workers have had their pay cut. Many of these workers are currently studying at university and TAFE. A pay cut of $77 a week is absolutely devastating, especially when a recent survey has revealed regional university students are flat out putting three square meals on the table. The 2017 Universities Australia Student Finances Survey, released on 13 August 2018, showed one in five students from regional areas regularly go without food and other necessities because of financial hardship. They also defer their university studies because of the costs, which are at a rate of almost twice that of their metropolitan counterparts. The same survey revealed that the majority of students, 83 per cent, support themselves through work. Students from regional areas like my electorate face significant shortfalls between their income and expenses, and yet the Turnbull government is doing absolutely nothing about it.

The Prime Minister may never have had to rely on penalty rates to get by; he just doesn't seem to understand what it is like to need penalty rates to survive. Time and again, the Turnbull government has clearly shown where its priorities lie. This is a government that is happy to cut $4,000 a year from workers' wages but give a big tax handout to big business and the banks.

Rest assured, Labor will always fight for workers. Labor understands penalty rates aren't a luxury. Penalty rates pay the bills and put food on the table for many thousands of people. I am proud to stand with the Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, and my Labor colleagues to take up the fight to restore workers' penalty rates. I'm proud to be part of a Shorten led team that is committed to restoring penalty rates in the first 100 days of a Shorten Labor government. I am proud to be part of a Shorten team that will legislate to ensure that penalty rates can never be cut again. I say to the 700,000 workers who have had their rates cut by the Turnbull government: your voice does matter; you certainly deserve to be paid penalty rates; your pay certainly matters. Your vote matters; just make sure it counts.

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wasn't going to speak on this debate, but I've come to tell the truth, nothing but the truth, about what has actually happened here in regard to penalty rates. I have said before that if I have to use fear as an inducement to gain a vote in this nation, I'd rather not be here. You also know I've been kicked in and out of the House many times. This place is hard to get into, it's hard to stay in and it is easy to be thrown out of. We never forget two things. I have been kicked around in small business for nearly 30 years of my life. I lived the Thursday nights where the pay had to be there for my workers in the morning and at that stage it wasn't there, thinking: 'How are you going to do it? How are you going to make these 23 families that are reliant on you enough to supply their money for them?' I have lived it! I have never forgotten it. Even though I have been around this place for more than 30 years in this activity, I have never forgotten my roots, where I came from and why I am here. I'm still here for the same families. I'm still here for the same people.

With regard to changes to penalty rates, I am on the record as saying we needed that change in contemporary, modern Australia. A lot of the businesses in my electorate operate on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and public holidays, and the only people who keep operating are those that are running a whole-family business, with mum and dad and the children working and no wages for anybody else. I hear arguments about particular groups relying on penalty rates. Is there one policeman whose penalty rates are threatened? No. Is there one water industry worker whose penalty rates are threatened? No. Is there a construction worker whose penalty rates are threatened? No, because if they don't get the Saturday and Sunday money, they won't go to work; that's how it works. Is there one chef whose penalty rates are threatened? No. Those opposite make out that everybody's penalty rates are threatened, but that's not the truth.

The Fair Work Commission decided to gradually reduce Sunday rates in the retail award, from 200 per cent to 180 per cent. That's hardly a great change; it's hardly going to make a difference to whether an employer employs somebody on a Sunday, at 180 per cent of what it would normally cost rather than 200 per cent. It's not a decision-making change for an employer. It won't encourage what I would like to see: more young people getting a job. How do I know about more young people getting a job? Because I'm the one in my town, like other businesses and people like me, that employed those kids after school, on a Friday night or on a Saturday morning when they could work.

Kids come up to me today and say: 'Mr Broadbent, you know me; I worked for you.' I'm embarrassed; they look a bit different 30 years down the track. They're brilliant. They've gone on to do other things. They're wonderful young women and men with families and children of their own, and they're thanking me for what they learnt. I've had kids come to me and say, 'Mr Broadbent, I can't get a job.' One girl said to me, 'All I want you to do is put me on and pay me nothing, just so I've got something on my record to say that I have worked and I'm good at what I do.' I put her on, and I paid her above award rates—which most of our staff always got—plus bonuses in other ways, because I wanted her to succeed. She not only succeeded; she went on to do amazing things, as did other young people who were having a tough time and just wanted to come to work for a while. I'm running out of time. I could give my heart to this issue. Please allow the Fair Work Commission to help make Australia a better country with greater opportunities for young people.

Susan Lamb (Longman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Leader of the Opposition's bill, the Fair Work Amendment (Restoring Penalty Rates) Bill 2018, to restore the hard-earned penalty rates of hundreds of thousands of Australian workers that have been cut by the Turnbull government. Once again, this is Labor showing leadership where the government won't. In fact, after reading today's headlines, it seems that the government isn't even sure who the leader is anyway.

The by-election that I recently contested afforded me the opportunity to spend more time out in my community. It meant that I was able to go to local sporting matches, meet with community groups and speak with people and their families about the issues that matter to them. I heard all manner of issues. People are not happy with this government. But no matter where I went, I always heard three key concerns: people are worried about the government cutting vital funding from our local schools and hospitals; people are angry that Prime Minister Turnbull wants to hand out $17 billion of taxpayers' money to the big banks; and people are furious that Malcolm Turnbull is doing all of this while cutting the take-home pay of ordinary Australian workers. It just shows where this government's priority lies—and it is not with regular people.

A few weeks ago, while I was out doorknocking in Bellmere, I met with a family that rely on penalty rates to pay their bills. It was a typical family in the area of Bellmere, good people getting by on a pretty modest income—a modest income that included penalty rates. The lady I spoke to in Bellmere—I won't mention her name in the chamber—works at a retail store at a local shopping centre and has worked there for 10 years. In those 10 years she has never taken one day's holiday. Even after giving birth to her child, she was back to work within days. Despite this, last year on 1 July the Turnbull government cut her take-home pay. It had an impact on her immediately. Just last month she felt it again, because this government cut her penalty rates once more. She has been 10 years in retail and never had a holiday, and for two years in a row this government cut the penalty rates that make up the very modest income of her family.

Under this government, wages growth has flatlined and the cost of living has exploded. It's become more and more difficult for an ordinary Australian to get by. These are members of our community who send their kids to the local school, use the local healthcare system and spend their money in local small businesses. But the government is cutting billions from their schools and hospitals and reducing their buying power. Less money in their pocket means less money to spend in local small businesses. Prime Minister Turnbull really has got his priorities all wrong. He gives millionaires a tax cut—in fact, he's giving himself a tax cut—and he's giving a huge multibillion-dollar handout to the big banks. But, as for regular Australians who keep this country going, he is doing nothing; in fact, if anything, he's pushing us backwards.

A Shorten Labor government will fix this government's mess. Even in opposition we are looking forward. We are developing policies to take to the next general election—policies that will make it easier for Australian workers, policies that will strengthen our health and education systems, and policies that prioritise Australian people over banks. Labor will restore the billions cut from Australian schools. Labor will restore the vital funding that has been ripped out of Australian hospitals, like the $2.9 million ripped out of our Caboolture Hospital—the hospital used by the worker I was just talking about for her health care and that of her family.

Labor will restore the hard-earned penalty rates of Australian workers. Labor can afford to make these decisions, of course, because of the strong decision we are making in not giving billions of dollars to the banks. We believe in Australian people. Under our leader, Bill Shorten, we're united as a party to stand up for each and every Australian every time the government makes it harder for them to get by.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's great to have the member for Longman back here, and that speech has shown us why. I rise to speak on the Fair Work Amendment (Restoring Penalty Rates) Bill 2018 put forward by our next Prime Minister, the member for Maribyrnong. Before coming into this place, I ran a small business for 35 years. I paid my staff penalty rates, which were very important to them. My practice manager started with me as a younger person, and, even now, 35 years later, she is still working for me. I know how important it was for my staff to get their penalty rates for overtime and weekend work, to help pay their mortgages and support their young families. So I stand here proudly with the enthusiasm, drive and determination to be part of a future Labor government that will protect and restore the penalty rates of thousands of people who are some of our lowest paid workers.

In this day and age, we have seen an enormous explosion in executive remuneration. I read on the weekend that James Packer is building an even bigger yacht because his present $70 million yacht is not big enough for him, yet our government has cut the penalty rates for some of the lowest-paid workers in our community. This is just a shame. It is an honour to speak on this legislation alongside such dedicated and hard-working members of the Labor caucus to understand the importance of penalty rates. Each and every one of my colleagues speaking on this legislation has committed that they will protect the poorest in their communities, do the right thing and restore their penalty rates.

I love my electorate of Macarthur. My community is a wonderful part of Sydney. It is populated by wonderful people, and I will do my best to protect them, particularly those who are really struggling under this present economic regime run by the member for Wentworth—but who knows by whom in the near future? This government can say all they want in relation to their position on penalty rates and they can shift the blame onto the Fair Work Commission, but they could have protected the penalty rates of the poorest paid in our community.

The other issue I have is that it is currently the penalty rates of the poorest paid being cut, in hospitality et cetera at the moment, but whose will be next? It won't be the executives; it will be the poorest and the ones without the power to fight this very right-wing, very conservative government. Labor has presented the government with the opportunity to join Labor in a fight to protect the incomes of the poorest but, each and every time, Malcolm Turnbull—and possibly Peter Dutton next—and his government votes in favour of cutting the penalty rates of the poorest paid. A shame. Let me be very clear. Every member opposite us in the chamber, every member of the Liberal-National government has voted to cut the penalty rates of their constituents on at least eight different occasions.

An honourable member: That's not true. It's an absolute lie.

How is that a lie? You have all voted to cut the penalty rates. The good people of Macarthur and the good people of Australia know that the government has the opportunity to protect their penalty rates and they know that the Prime Minister at present is intent on sitting idly by and doing nothing. Yet he and his friends are enjoying an enormous increase in their incomes and an enormous disparity in incomes between them and the poorest Australians. The people of my community know that the Prime Minister and his coalition MPs have had many opportunities to defend their interests and they know each and every time the government has instead opted to back their mates at the big end of town. What it all comes down to is the average Australian has not seen a real wage rise in years, and yet the government is intent on cutting their wages even further, while at the same time giving away $80 billion to the banks and to big businesses.

It was said once upon a time that there was one member for Banks in this parliament but now there are 76 of them—they all protect the banks and big business. It takes a truly out-of-touch Prime Minister and an ineffective government to think that it makes economic sense to take money from the pockets of working-class Australians, only to shove $80 billion into the pockets of the fat cats at the big end of town. Through the government's inaction and failure to stand by Labor in our attempt to secure the penalty rates of everyday Australians, some workers stand to lose over $70 a week. (Time expired)

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate has adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.