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

Yet again we are in this chamber having untruths spoken from those on the other side. Every day that we come into this chamber I am gobsmacked by the arrogance and how out of touch this government really is. When it comes to the lowest paid workers in this country, they have no empathy at all. It is as if they do not exist. I am not sure that they have ever met anyone who actually works in retail, other than being served by them. I do not think they understand the struggle that is facing so many of our fellow Australians, particularly those on low wages that rely on penalty rates.

The untruth that is spoken, yet again, in this chamber is that all of a sudden cutting penalty rates is going to create jobs. What a lot of nonsense! I do not believe that if you are to go out to your local cafe on a Sunday afternoon, after these penalty rates come into effect, your coffee or your lunch is going to cost any less. I do not believe that jobs will be created.

In my home state of Tasmania so many people rely on penalty rates. Under this government, who promised jobs and growth, there were going to be all these new jobs. There have not been new jobs. What we have is a vast amount of Australians, and particularly Tasmanians, who are underemployed.

The Attorney-General, the leader of the government in this place, who represents the Prime Minister, comes in here and tries to back away at 100 miles an hour, saying that the Prime Minister did not say he supported the cuts to penalty rates when, quite frankly, he did.

We should be talking about the facts of the situation. When unions go out and negotiate an EBA, they do that in good faith that they are going to improve the take-home pay and conditions of those workers that they represent. It is not like the minister, Senator Michaelia Cash, who comes into this place and cherry-picks what happens on a Sunday. The reality is that we know there are going to be too many Australians—700,000 Australians—who are absolutely going to be worse off.

When the government finally did put in a submission, last Friday, to the Fair Work Commission, they did nothing to mitigate the circumstances for those low-paid workers that are going to be affected by this cut.

Then we had the Attorney-General today trying to suggest that hairdressers and beauticians will not be caught up in this penalty rate cut. Once again, this is misleading and false. Next you will be trying to tell me that those people who work in the aged-care sector—where we are scrambling to try and get enough people to come and work in that sector as it is, because of the challenges in and the lack of remuneration for the very important work that they do for some of the most vulnerable people in this country—will not be affected. You may come in here and say that, but I can tell you that when you actually go out and meet people—I am sure I speak to more everyday Australians than you do, Senator Brandis—they do not believe you.

I am glad that we are yet again debating penalty rates and that you have yet again failed to address or answer the questions that we have asked of you in this place today, because one thing Australians understand is that this Prime Minister promised so much and has delivered nothing. He has been a complete disappointment. He is a dud. He is a fizzer.

We have heard from Senator Abetz, from my home state of Tasmania, in this debate. I cannot wait for him to tell the 40,000 Tasmanians that are going to lose on average $77 a week out of their pay packet. He has no idea what it means not to have enough money in your purse at the end of the week to pay for your kid's school excursion. He does not know what it is like not to have enough money in your pay packet to buy that last carton of milk before your next pay. The people on that side of the chamber are so out of touch. They are so arrogant. They will not even listen to the community.

I see Senator Bushby there, and I can imagine we will hear just more tripe coming out of the government side in this debate. The reality is if you have not walked in the shoes of those people who struggle, if you have not had to live on benefits from this government and if you have not had to go out and work on Saturday and Sunday while you are missing out on family time then you have no understanding of the real value of these penalty rates to everyday Australians— (Time expired)