Lee Rhiannon (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

There is something rotten in Turnbull's Australia. When a company like Harvey Norman can pocket $900,000 in workers' wages because of a decision by the Fair Work Commission, there is something deeply wrong. It is really sick and deeply shocking. As the Fair Work Commission's decision covers the retail sector, hospitality and fast food, there will be many corporations pocketing workers' wages. Let's not mince words; that is the outcome here. There is no proof that more jobs will be created. There is no proof that society is going to be improved. Workers are going to be ripped off, and particularly those who are already doing it tough. We know that women dominate in the industries that have been targeted by the Fair Work Commission. In many of those sectors—hospitality, retail—about 55 per cent of workers are women, who depend on their penalty rates to make ends meet.

What we also know is that it does not have to be like this. I congratulate my colleague Adam Bandt, the member for Melbourne and the Greens' industrial relations spokesperson, who has brought forward a very neat way to handle this which would allow the Fair Work Commission to continue to set rates but would put in place a floor below which rates could not go so that workers' wages could not go backwards. How reasonable that is! Mr Bandt announced that last May. At the time, Labor said 'no way'. Going into the election there was actually a unity ticket between Labor and the Liberals on accepting the Fair Work Commission's decision straight out. I acknowledge that Labor now are working with the Greens and Jacqui Lambie and that we have combined legislation we are all supporting. It is really excellent that it has got to that point.

Where do we go from here? We must now look at how we are going to get the numbers, because it is so urgent that this protection be put in place. Today's debate, and also what is going on in the community, where there is an increasing outcry to protect penalty rates, sends a clear message to Senator Hinch, the Nick Xenophon Team and One Nation to stand up for penalty rates. Do not do the Canberra shuffle, where out in the community you say, 'Yes, I'm really concerned; you shouldn't be done over; you should get your penalty rates,' but then come in here and do deals that result in the wrong thing being done. This is the time to stand up for the public good. That is clearly where we should be now.

It would be deeply wrong to allow penalty rates to be thrown out. Surely, when we come into this place our commitment should be to work to improve the lot of all Australians, not to allow the clock to be turned back. But that is what will happen if penalty rates are cut in the way proposed. We should not be allowing any of our forebears' achievements, which have improved the lives of the majority of people, to be overturned. Why did we win penalty rates? To allow people to spend more time with their families and communities, in recognition that they were losing valuable recreational time. But we now know that those protections and penalties should still be in place because so many people—40 per cent of young people—depend on penalty rates for survival, just to make ends meet. For them, penalty rates are absolutely essential.

We need to see this debate in the context of increasing attacks on the rights of unions and workers to organise collectively. And you hear it so clearly every time somebody from the government gets up to speak on the matter. The President of the ACTU, Ged Kearney, recently spoke about the prolonged, concerted attack on unions and how corporations are becoming emboldened by the anti-union government that the Turnbull government is. The Turnbull government, if it is allowed to proceed with this, will be driving further inequality in our society. In this place we need to recognise that public opinion is on the side of the public good. The public are standing up for penalty rates, and we in this place, through our work, need to lock-in legal protection for penalty rates. We can do that, and it surely should be our top priority.