Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm sure that I'm not the only member in this chamber who, over the years, has been told by voters that one of the things they're disappointed in about politics is the fact, or the view, that there's not enough between the parties on issues. I think that, at the coming election, this will be an example of a time when there is a vast difference between the different policies that are being put forward by the parties and the different visions for Australia that the parties hold. There is no area in which there is a greater difference between the parties about their vision for Australia than when it comes to the economy. Whether it be on matters of tax, on workplace laws, on education and training or on the key levers of building an economy for the future, there is a massive difference between the government on the one hand and the Labor opposition on the other. As I say, whether it's about tax, workplace laws, education and training or any of the other major economic levers that a government has, it is clear that the government, the LNP, is on the side of big business and the wealthiest individuals in our community and the Labor opposition is actually on the side of small and medium businesses, the average working family and subcontractors in this country.

Let's step through each of the major economic levers: tax, workplace laws, and education and training. To begin, tax is probably the best example, the easiest example, where you can see that this is a government that is obsessed with getting more money into the pockets of big business and the wealthiest individuals in our community rather than average working people or small businesses. We know that for months, in fact years, it was the Senate, led by Labor and backed by some of the crossbenchers, that resisted the government's repeated attempts to cut tax rates for big business. If the government had its way, we would have shelved billions of dollars towards big business—to the banks and the largest corporations in this country—to help them reduce their tax bill, funded by further cuts to education, hospitals and infrastructure right across the country. It was only because of the resistance shown by Labor senators, backed by crossbench senators, that we were able to stop the tax cuts for big business from going through.

We were, unfortunately, witness to many other pieces of legislation that the government put forward over this term which have reduced tax rates for the highest income earners in this country. On the other hand, Labor has actually put up initiative after initiative to try to reduce tax rates for low- to middle-income earners. If anyone's going to be getting a tax cut in this country, it should be low- to middle-income earners, not big business and not millionaires, who are the only people that this government seems to have as a priority when it comes to tax rates. Of course, a vast number of tax loopholes exist within our system at the moment which are overwhelmingly exploited by the highest income earners in our community, whether it be the tax havens that are established by the wealthiest individuals, whether it be the misuse of trusts to minimise tax, whether it be the ability to claim massive tax deductions for seeing your accountant or your lawyer to reduce your tax obligation, or whether it be your ability—and this is one I didn't even know about—to claim, as a tax deduction, a trip to your tax haven so that you can meet with your accountant and inspect your tax haven. You can claim the airfare that you incur as a deduction itself. That is absolutely outrageous, and most Australians would say it's outrageous. That's something that Labor wants to crack down on, and it's something that the government has shown no interest in whatsoever to try to fix.

On a whole range of tax matters, we see, time and time again, this government lining up with big business and with the highest income earners in our community rather than middle-income earners and low-income earners. It's no surprise that we see results like we did on the weekend in Victoria or, before that, in federal by-elections, where middle- to low-income earners are making very clear that they know this government is not on their side.

Wages and workplace laws is another area where average Australians have missed out, time and time again, from this government. We know for a fact that wages in this country have essentially stopped growing if you compare them to inflation. Inflation keeps going up, goods and services keep going up, people's bills keep going up, and wages are barely keeping pace with the increases that people are seeing in their bills and in the cost of living. This government has no answer for it. The only answer it can come up with is to give big business and employers even greater power to screw down working people and screw down the wages that they receive.

Well, Labor has a different view. Our view is that the only way to get the economy moving, growing in a way that benefits the entire community, is to make sure that average Australian working people get more money in their pockets through increases in their wages. That's why we've put forward a range of policies already, before we even get to an election campaign, which will go to the heart of trying to put more money in the pockets of average Australian working people by increasing their wages. We've tried repeatedly to reverse the cuts to penalty rates that were handed down by the Fair Work Commission and have been backed in repeatedly by this government. We want to reverse those penalty rate cuts and make sure that Australian working people get the wages they deserve. The best way to make sure that regional economies and economies right across Australia are ticking over is to make sure that people have more money in their pockets to go and spend in shops, in cafes, in restaurants—in the businesses in the community. Cutting people's penalty rates and making sure that they are paid less is doing harm to household budgets and it is doing harm to economic communities right across this country.

We've said that we want to crack down on the abuse of labour hire that we see particularly in many parts of regional Australia as well as in our big cities. It is outrageous that a worker can be engaged as a labour hire worker to do exactly the same work as someone who's employed on a permanent basis but get paid less and get worse terms and conditions in their employment. That has to stop. We recognise that there are times when, due to seasonal fluctuations in work, employers do need to bring on people on a short-term basis, including via labour hire. That's fine, but it is not fine for employers to keep engaging people as labour hire for the sole reason of reducing their wages bill. Again, it is bad for working people and it is bad for communities to have less money going in the pockets of working people.

We've also said that we want to review the abuse of casualisation, of casual employees. This notion of permanent casuals has gotten well out of hand and should not be allowed to continue. Again, there are times when people are legitimately engaged as casuals, but the idea that someone can be engaged as a casual year after year, when their working hours basically don't change, has to stop. People deserve more job security than that, and people deserve to go into work, to know what they're going to be paid and to know that they're going to be kept on from week to week.

It goes beyond working people as well. We want to do more for subcontractors. This is an issue that comes up repeatedly on the Gold Coast, where my office is based, where we see many, many construction firms go under, owing subcontractors money. All too often we see phoenix companies with directors who go from company to company, closing down their business, trashing their assets, leaving bills unpaid and leaving subcontractors in the lurch. That sort of thing has to stop as well. It's the same on education and training. The government's agenda is clear in imposing cuts to schools, to universities, to TAFEs, to training. It's Labor that actually wants to inject more money into that system to make sure that people have the skills that are going to be needed into the future.

As I said, from time to time you hear people saying that there's not enough of a difference between the parties. Well, in the coming election that is not going to be the case. There is a very clear difference between the parties on how the economy should be managed, and it is only Labor that is putting forward an economic agenda that has the interests of low- and middle-income earners at heart. The government is over there wanting to cut tax rates for big business, cut funding for schools, cut funding for unis, cut funding for training, make it more and more difficult for Australians to get a wage rise and make more Australian workers suffer penalty rate cuts, casual work and labour hire. That's the government's view. Over here, on the other hand, federal Labor is promising to crack down on the tax loopholes that only the wealthy are exploiting, to make sure that we have the money to fund our schools, our unis, our training and our TAFEs and to make sure that people have the skills that will be needed in the future. We need fair workplace laws, we need fair taxation systems and we need fair education and training, and it will only come from Labor. (Time expired)