Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy President. 'You' is them, the opposition and the previous government, who turned around and quite clearly destroyed the middle class and were undermining it through their entire term. It was part of their design feature to make sure working people in this country had less in their pockets. And guess what? You have succeeded. You did deliver on your policy and we are all paying. When you—the opposition—were in government, you delivered on that policy. That's exactly what you did.

When those opposite were in government they turned around very clearly. When they were in government, this opposition turned around and said it was too hard to regulate the gig economy, where the average pay is $6.67 an hour.

That is right, Senator Ciccone. They said there was nothing they could do to give those people minimum payments in this country. That is what was said when they were in government. Since we got into government, we have said quite clearly we have to make a number of serious changes to what's happened under their watch. As those opposite drove down the middle class and put more pressure on pensioners, we have come up with solutions about pensioners, making sure we have work bonuses so pensioners can get out there and do more hours. We have built a consensus on jobs and skills across this economy. We have said we will make sure the middle class in this country grows. We watched quite clearly the previous government allow companies like McDonald's to steal from the youngest people in our country. We saw companies like Qantas steal hundreds of millions of dollars to pay their shareholders, while, as a government, those opposite gave them $2 billion—good suggestion. Did they have any strings attached, like not misuse the money? No, they didn't. There were waste and rorts, and the consequence was that hardworking Australians have been paying the price.

The previous government did not support a wage increase for aged-care workers. The opposition, when they were in government, would not support feminised industries getting wage increases. They would not fund the wage increases of the Fair Work Commission rulings. That's what those opposite did when they were in government. If their plan was for cost of living; they succeeded—wages down, middle class collapsing, feminised industries without wage increases, our lowest-paid not receiving wage improvements.