Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Hansard source

It is a disgrace; I can't agree with you more there, Senator McCarthy. It's a disgrace what this government is proposing to do.

Just think about who they're trying to target with this bill. It's not professionals. It's not the top end of town. It's those people who jobs are most vulnerable. Their jobs are already under threat with JobKeeper ending. I know about this. I was up in Far North Queensland only a couple of weeks ago talking to some of the people who face an economic cliff in two weeks time because of the removal of the JobKeeper provisions. The people who have continued to work, like casual shop assistants, turning up for three-hour shifts or whatever they might be, are the most vulnerable in our community right now. They've done the right thing. They've continued to work through the whole COVID pandemic to serve the community. And how does this government thank them? How does this government reward them? This government takes away their basic terms and conditions that might give them an opportunity to try and improve their wages as we go forward.

This bill goes backwards. What we should have had by now is a bill that goes forwards, that says to these workers: 'Thank you. We appreciate what you have done during this pandemic, and we are going to reward you—maybe even with a wage rise, some extra hours, some better leave provisions, some pandemic leave provisions.' No—none of that. This government only wants to go backwards. Labor will oppose this legislation.