Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to take this opportunity to put on record—echoing, I am sure, many other senators in this chamber—that my thoughts and prayers are with those people in Queensland affected by Tropical Cyclone Debbie. I hope that all those affected stay safe and I wish them a speedy recovery.

I rise today to speak on this important motion put forward by Senator Cameron, who has been a powerful advocate for workers, both in this chamber and over a long career in the union movement. I am also proud to stand in solidarity with Bill Shorten, the federal Labor leader, in opposing these cuts to penalty rates. It is something I am really passionate about.

It is not surprising that Senator Hanson made a poor contribution to this debate; I was expecting that. But for her to backflip on something that, so many times, she has been on the record as supporting and then come in here and fail to defend herself was astonishing. I was also astonished by the performance of Senator Hume, who tried to defend the impact this decision will have on female workers basically by saying they will just have to work longer. That is absolutely the wrong attitude and it shows the lack of empathy those opposite have in looking at these penalty rate cuts and the impact they will have in the community. You need no clearer evidence of that than what we have heard in the debate over the last hour.

It also adds to how out of touch this government is. On a day when it is pursuing changes to 18C to make it easier for people to be racist and discriminate against people, it also has on the agenda for later this week cuts to company tax. This is the agenda it is pursuing. It shut down the opportunity to have a debate on our legislation in this place earlier today. So that is all you need to know about this government: it wants to have tax cuts for multinational companies, and it also wants to support a pay cut for those in society who can least afford it.

Who does this impact? It impacts 700,000 Australians and, particularly from my point of view, 150,000 Queenslanders. This will have a significant impact on the Queensland economy, particularly on those in regional areas. I think six out of the 10 electorates most severely impacted by the penalty rate cuts are in Queensland. I would like to point out that electorates like Leichhardt and Dawson, in regional Queensland, are particularly going to be impacted by it.

I had the opportunity last week to ask a question of Senator Nash, the minister responsible for regional development, who basically admitted that they have done nothing to buttress the impact that this is going to have on regional Queensland. When you already see the struggling local economies in those places and add to that a looming penalty rates cut, that is only going to have a dire impact on those places, especially on those who can least afford it. Once upon a time you could probably expect the Nats in this chamber to speak up proudly about something like this, but now we hear nothing. They are in bed with the Liberals supporting a cut to those people who can least afford it.

Let me come back to Senator Hanson. It really is tough to keep up with her sometimes. Let us look back at what she has said on the record on this issue over a number of years. This was pre getting elected to the Senate, on Sunrise in 2014. When asked about penalty rates she said: 'You can't survive in today's climate paying penalty rates. Years ago it used to be sacred, a Saturday afternoon or a Sunday, now it's not anymore.' There you have Senator Hanson, prior to getting elected, saying that penalty rates were out of date. Then, in the infamous Insiders interview only a couple of weeks ago, on 5 March, when asked if she supported penalty rates, she said, 'I think, in principle, yes, I do, because we have to.' So there you go: twice in recent times we have had Senator Hanson on the record supporting penalty rates. But then last night, apparently, on Senator Hanson's Facebook page she claimed she has listened to people and no longer supports penalty rate cuts. What can you actually believe from Senator Hanson? She comes in here and does not give a proper account of what she is doing on penalty rates. She did not commit to support Labor's legislation. Again, we see flip-flopping and a lack of consistency from Senator Hanson that really goes to show what her motives are all about, and they are not standing up for those people who are going to be impacted by these penalty rate cuts and those most vulnerable Queenslanders.

What we know from a Queensland point of view is that we have high underemployment and an increase in casualisation, so increasingly people are relying on penalty rates to keep their heads above water. We also have record low wage growth. This is what we are seeing across Australia and in Queensland. On top of that, it is a priority for this government to make that situation worse by introducing penalty rate cuts that are going to have such a devastating impact on so many people throughout Queensland and Australia.