Alex Gallacher (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In a rare moment of agreement with Senator Macdonald, I do agree that he's not very bright, because, if the logic of his argument were correct, how is it possible that we've had 27 years of uninterrupted economic growth? How is it possible that, if we're in such dire circumstances, we need to match, in a Dutch auction, whoever's got the lowest tax rate to be able to live and be successful in Australia? The facts don't speak to that.

If I go back to Senator Cormann's response, he may well have a point that Rubio's an outlier in the Republican Party. He was a presidential candidate though. If you look at Bloomberg, 60 per cent of the tax cut gains will go to shareholders compared to 15 per cent to employees. Morgan Stanley analysts found that 43 per cent of the tax cut will go to stock buybacks and dividends and 13 per cent will go to pay rises, bonuses and employee benefits. Just Capitals's analysis of 121 Russell 1,000 companies found that 50 per cent of the tax savings will go to shareholders, compared to 20 per cent directed to job creation and capital investment and six per cent to workers.

On this side of the chamber, every week that we're not in parliament we meet with workers. I can tell you the story of any number of workers who are waiting for that permanent job, perhaps with the Port Adelaide council, where there are respectable pay and conditions enjoyed, but they're in the labour hire contingent, which has vastly different hours to those in the permanent workforce. There is no trickle-down effect coming to those people—not in the informal economy; it's a formal part of the employment sector—those without permanent jobs, those with casual jobs and those with part-time jobs. For someone who's applied for a job in my office or someone who works 25 hours a week at Coles stacking shelves—but would dearly like to get a well-paid job—this tax cut is not going to trickle down to them, and anybody who believes it believes in the tooth fairy or some such other fallacy.

There is a simple reality here: it's not in the best interests of companies to suddenly start handing out wage increases. The job of a vibrant union movement is to force companies to negotiate into fairer enterprise agreements. This government spends most of its time trying to destroy trade unions in this country when all trade unions do is provide that equalising equilibrium in the capitalist system. We and union representatives go in and fight for fairness, fight for wage growth and get that share back for the workers so they can look after their families.

I have never met a CEO who thought it his job to actually hand out a pay rise. Every CEO in this country would not be doing their shareholders a service if they suddenly said, 'We'll give them an extra 10 bucks an hour.' It won't happen. You know it won't happen. You're batting for your side of town: power, position and privilege. That's who you're batting for. Be honest about it. Own up to it. That's your job over there, and you do it very well. So don't pretend that you're looking after the working class or the middle class or anybody who's not in a position of power and privilege.

Senator Cormann has his mantra. He's unshakeable on his mantra. He says one thing and does another—always. He just keeps battering with that battering ram of his, but he's for position, power and privilege. He wouldn't know a worker if he fell over one. He certainly wouldn't know a casual worker on $18 an hour. If he believes that any CEO in this country is suddenly going to wake up tomorrow and say, 'I've got less tax to pay; everybody's got a pay rise,' he's dreaming—and we ought to tell him he's dreaming. But he knows he's dreaming. That's the really awful thing. Senator the Hon. Mathias Cormann knows exactly what he's doing here. He's batting for power, position and privilege, and he does not give much of a stuff about the working people in this country, whose wages growth is so low. That low wages growth feeds into all of the other parameters of our society. It feeds into all of the other negative aspects in our economy and all of the other negative aspects or outcomes in our society. We need a living wage. We need an increase in Newstart. We need an increase in so many areas so that people can get up in the morning, look after themselves, feed and clothe their families and enjoy a bit of respectability in an economy that's fair and shares the income around and doesn't hand it all to the big end of town, like this disgraceful tax cut will do. (Time expired)