Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, 2020 is done. It was a tough year for all Australians, and 2021 will have its own challenges. There are over two million people who don't have a job or don't have enough hours to get by. If there's one thing that I heard over the summer, it's that people desperately want 2021 to be better. They want hope from their government. They want a plan from their government. They want to rebuild jobs and they want to get our country moving. They want us to rebuild our manufacturing jobs. They want us to get on with the task of creating clean energy jobs, to fix the crisis in aged care and to bring down the price of early childhood education. They want all Australians to have the opportunity that a good, secure, job can bring, including those essential workers so critical to getting us through this pandemic but who are so often undervalued in their pay packet. Australians want a government that is on their side.

But what is Prime Minister Scott Morrison serving up in 2021? Pay cuts, super cuts, JobKeeper cuts and JobSeeker cuts, all at the same time. Just as they're about to cut those crucial financial supports, they're trying to introduce laws that will cut workers' wages. This week Scott Morrison talked about a comeback, but his plans for this year are actually cutbacks—cuts that will leave entire communities struggling without JobKeeper support; cuts that will send jobseekers back to an absolutely unlivable $40 a day; cuts to wages by getting rid of protections for penalty, overtime and shift rates, allowing employers to push people back to the minimum wage, just at the time that people are doing it incredibly hard; and cuts to super savings by freezing the legislated super increase. Right now the government is telling Australians: 'If you're doing it tough, you need to do it even tougher. You need your support slashed, you need your wages slashed, you need your super savings slashed.'

This is not just nasty policy; it's bad policy. It's just plain wrong policy. Ripping wages and incomes out of our struggling communities will not get them back on their feet; it will put workers and businesses on the back foot. You cannot cut to create jobs. We've just been through the biggest economic shock in a hundred years, and this government is more focused on punishing Australians than on creating jobs. They're punishing Australians instead of getting wages moving and getting money back into local businesses. They're punishing Australians instead of creating more secure jobs for our essential workers and, indeed, for all Australians.

It doesn't have to be this way. Our road to recovery should support all Australians. Our road to recovery should be built around practical solutions that help people, not hurt them. It should be built on a big, bold plan for our future; a plan that has good and secure jobs at its heart; a plan that looks out for all Australians. We on the Labor side believe in making this country better. We believe in improving people's lives. This week Scott Morrison admitted he has no real reform agenda for this country. On our side, we believe in the power of government to make things better.

This is why Labor is focused on improving access to early childhood education. It's why we're focused on a big, comprehensive plan to invest in social housing. It's why Labor has a plan for Australian manufacturing; for bringing down energy prices; for creating green energy jobs; for supporting working women; for fixing the aged-care crisis and delivering a dignified retirement; for training apprentices and skilling up workers for new opportunities; and for delivering the good, secure jobs that Australians need. Australians don't want to go back to January 2020, to a time before COVID-19. They want us to deliver more than that. They want us to deliver hope. They want us to deliver a better future, a 2021 that is better than 2020, and Labor wants that too.