Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When I hear that this Liberal government want to reform Australia's workplace laws, alarm bells start ringing because this is a government that has shown us time and time again that they are more interested in looking after their millionaire mates than the millions of unemployed. Right now, as we are hit hard by the economic fall-out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the share of business profit to income is at its highest in 60 years and the share of workers' wages to profit are at its lowest. People are working harder but wages growth is flat lining and too many people, especially young people, aren't getting the hours of work they want and need to live a decent life.

This government's proposed plans to reform our workplace laws look likely to leave millions of workers behind, and entrench low-paid and insecure work. The government's unambitious unemployment target of six per cent shows they are content with leaving two million people either without work or without enough work. Working people are under attack and have less certainty and rights at work than ever before, while insecure work is spreading the coronavirus. Meanwhile, corporations are exploiting loopholes and making profits by underpaying workers. As someone who spent several years representing low-paid workers before getting elected to parliament, I know the damage done by insecure work. The Greens will fight tooth and nail against the government's proposed changes. We need to make sure everyone has a job if they want one as well as a living wage, while we tackle job insecurity and restore workers' basic rights.