Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Take-Home Pay) Bill 2017, which will prevent the penalty rate cuts proposed by the decision of the Fair Work Commission from taking effect. The purpose of this bill is to amend the Fair Work Act 2009 so that the Fair Work Commission cannot vary a modern award to reduce the take-home pay of any employee. It will protect workers' take-home pay now and into the future.

In this debate we have heard from those on the other side some of the most unfounded and ridiculous comments in relation to penalty rates. Those from Senate Seselja were quite astounding. As usual, the minister, Senator Cash, in question time cherry picks from agreements that have been negotiated by various unions in the best interests of their members when they have been negotiating members' entire pay, not just Sunday penalty rates.

This bill ensures that modern awards cannot be varied to reduce the take-home pay of any employee. I do not think anybody expected that the Fair Work Commission would bring down a decision that reduced the take-home pay of some of the lowest paid workers in this country. It was certainly never envisaged that a modern award would be cut in the manner that the Fair Work Commission decision has proposed for these penalty rates. We never envisaged that but we should have, because we know the behaviour of those on the other side of the chamber. We know that this government has done nothing but attack the most vulnerable people in our community. It is in its DNA. It has always wanted to cut penalty rates, and it has succeeded in having the Fair Work Commission bring down this decision. But we on this side are not going to be in this place and not stand up and support those who need these penalty rates more now than ever before.

The Prime Minister and his Liberal colleagues campaigned for these cuts and they are responsible for 700,000 Australian workers nationally, and 40,000 Tasmanian workers, standing to lose $77 a week. That is a huge blow to the pay packet of Tasmania's lowest paid workers. It is also bad for our state's economy, because these workers will now have less money to spend. We know, as the government knows, that those people who earn the lowest wages in this country expend all that money. They do not use the money they receive in penalty rates to buy luxury items. They use that money to ensure that their kids can go on a school excursion. They spend their money in the local economy, so the coffee shops will continue and so that they are able to put food on the table by going to the supermarket. That is the real implication of the cut to penalty rates. It is not about these people saving up for a motor car. It is not about them spending it and wasting it, as those opposite purport, but it is about the benefits that penalty rates bring to those individuals and families and to the local economies and communities that rely on this money circulating within the economy. I can assure senators that when they go out for a Sunday coffee or lunch with their families while other people are working their coffee will not cost them any less and their meal will not cost them any less, because those establishments will not be reducing their prices.

We on this side will always stand up for those who are most vulnerable—it is in our DNA. We will always stand up for Australian workers, for the most vulnerable workers, who work hard for their families to save that bit of money to ensure that their kids have the same opportunities as everyone else. We are not going to abandon those people—not today, not ever. But those on the other side have campaigned against penalty rates for years and years. We are not going to go down without a fight; the Australian community expects us to stand up for them. We respect fairness in this country. We expect that everyone gets a fair go. We know already that this cut will not be just for the retail sector. It will not be just for pharmacy and it will not be just for takeaway outlets. We know that this decision poses a real danger to the area I have responsibility for—ageing and aged care. Aged care workers are some of the lowest paid workers in this country. They are the ones who look after our most vulnerable older Australians, and we know we cannot get enough of them to work in our sector. What does the threat of them losing their penalty rates say to older Australians?

It says, once again, that those on that side—Malcolm Turnbull and this government—do not care. They do not care about older Australians to the extent that they should. They do not care about the shortage that we have in the aged-care sector in trying to attract carers and people to work in the sector, because it is in their DNA to make sure that people stay down.

They look after the big end of town; they never look after workers.