Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of answers. I particularly wish to reflect on the answers provided by Senator Abetz to the questions relating to the coalition's approach to penalty rates and the recommendation presently under consideration from the Productivity Commission that penalty rates on Sundays be lessened and brought into line with penalty rates at other times.

Senator Abetz was very careful to provide limited information in relation to that question. It was not really any surprise. We had three questions and very little attempt to respond to the substance of those questions, with the minister simply saying that we want to see a high wage and productive economy and we want to see more jobs in the economy—something which everyone in this chamber can agree with.

But what is not clear is what the coalition actually thinks about penalty rates. Because for many years we know that this has been on the wish list for conservatives in this country, to reduce penalty rates. I want to talk a little bit about what the Productivity Commission is actually recommending in its draft report. It has recommended that the penalty rates which apply in the hospitality, retail, entertainment, restaurant and cafe sectors ought to be reduced on Sundays. It said that working on Sundays is no longer a special category of work and said that there is a case for this to be brought down. If we think about the evidence of who relies on these penalty rates, who relies on the special wages at this time, what we know is that 42.6 per cent of those people in a recent survey said that they absolutely rely on those rates to meet their household budget.

What we also know is that there are other sectors at the moment not under consideration by the Productivity Commission where penalty rates are very important and apply. If we think about nurses, if we think about bus drivers, if we think about people working in the agricultural sector, if we think about people working in transport, all of the people working in these industries are from time to time in receipt of the benefits that come from giving up your Sunday to work in the service of others in the community.

If we really think about who is benefiting from it, it is people that, frankly, need the money. Research tells us that the people most likely to be reliant on penalty rates are single parents and women. We know already about the gender pay gap and about how women in our economy are penalised simply for their gender; and we know that in some ways this arises from the concentration of women in particular industries with very low rates of pay. We know that the women in these industries, particularly the hospitality and retail sectors, are absolutely dependent on that little bit of extra money that comes in from working on a Sunday. Other groups that are particularly dependent on penalty rates are households that earn less than $30,000 a year. I think everybody in this chamber would understand that $30,000 a year is a tough number to get by on, and the idea that we would contemplate reducing the pay levels of those families is incomprehensible to me.

We know also that people who are likely to be reliant on penalty rates are the people who do not live in cities. I came to this chamber absolutely determined to defend the rights and the needs of people in regional New South Wales. It is not right that people who live in regional Australia are financially penalised and penalised in other ways in their life chances, and it does not seem right to me that we would consider reducing the wages of families from those areas.

The other group of people, of course, who benefit from penalty rates are young people. Young people overwhelmingly are likely to work on weekends and evenings only. Those people are also dependent on those penalty rates for their weekly incomes.

Penalty rates are part of a broader commitment in this country to a reasonable rate of pay for workers across a range of industries and to a five-day week, which fundamentally allows people to contribute to their communities, to contribute to their families and to balance recreation and rest with their contribution to the workplace. We should not allow those values to be compromised or eroded in the pursuit of quick and unworkable fixes that ultimately will not do anything to support the Australian economy. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.