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

When asked today about why the government's new IR laws are designed to make insecure work even more entrenched, the government again ignored the expert advice of 23 law professors in this country who say that these IR laws will not only fail to address the wage stagnation that is absolutely plaguing our economy at the moment and fail to address the insecure work that so many Australians face today but in fact actually exacerbate these problems. Again the government has decided to ignore these 23 law experts today. They've decided today to double-down on their tired old false claims—false claims that we've heard over and over and over again from that side of politics and false claims that somehow cutting pay is important to boosting jobs. Somehow cutting pay is going to boost jobs and boost the economy—that is the tired old play from this Liberal government. They have doubled-down on false claims today that making more Australians casual and insecure is going to somehow boost the economy and false claims that somehow scrapping the better off over all test is going to magically leave Australians better off overall, when it is clearly designed to leave Australians worse off, apparently, according to this government, in service of a stronger economy.

Australians see through this Liberal government's spin. They know that, in the middle of this health crisis and in the middle of an economic crisis, the Liberal government is actually just reaching into the bottom drawer to pull out their tired old playbook and to pull out their tired old plans—attacks on workers, attacks on unions, attacks on people's basic rights at work, cuts to workers' pay and cuts to workers' rights. That is the recipe that this government has for Australians to get through this pandemic and to set the economy on the right foot. Australians know better than to believe that. Australians know that they have faced persistently low wages under this government, even before the pandemic, and they know that Scott Morrison's response to this industrial relations bill will only make that problem worse. A pay cut is not going to help the stagnant wages of Australians. Casualising more Australians is not going to address the epidemic that we have of insecure work in this country.

Wages were flatlining under this government even before COVID-19, and it is a big problem. It's a big problem for workers who can't afford to put food on the table for themselves and their families and it's a big problem for the economy as a whole. What we actually need is for people to have pay packets so they can open their wallets and spend in local businesses in their communities. That's what we actually need to get this economy moving. We need people to have secure jobs to get this economy moving. People need the security of a pay cheque next week, the week after and the week after that and they need hours of work next week, the week after and the week after that in order to be able to spend in local businesses in their communities and give our economy the boost it needs.

Under this government too many Australians are stuck in low-paid and insecure jobs—casuals, contractors, freelancers, labour hire workers and gig workers. People are stuck in jobs with no certainty of work for the next day, the next week or the next month ahead. We actually need a government that has a plan to boost wages and to boost job security, not to make more workers casual, not to deliver a pay cut to more Australian workers and not to hang out the very essential workers who saw us through 2020. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.