Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The minister for workplace relations and his department have consulted closely with businesses—the businesses that the people on the other side have pretended are scared—and with unions, who actually represent the workers in this place. Even though they don't like to use that word, they actually do represent the workers, and they have a place in businesses and civil society. We've dealt with all of those, we've consulted and we will continue to consult during the design of these reforms. As I said, we are continuing. We're continuing to have some consultations with stakeholders around concerns that small businesses have raised and around the better off overall test to ensure that no worker is left off.

I don't know why, on that side, they have a problem with workers getting a pay rise. Do they ever go out and talk to workers? We do. Workers like me, who used to work in a factory many years ago, are struggling today to make ends meet because for 10 years, while those guys were in charge, they had no wage increase. In fact, their wages were driven down. They had no ability. These are low-paid workers—aged-care workers, cleaners and childcare workers—who helped us through the pandemic and who worked day in and day out to provide for us and to get us through the pandemic. All those opposite want to do is suppress their wages and keep them down while the cost of living is rising. We know that.

There is an inflation challenge; Senator Gallagher said that in her answer to the question from Senator Cash. We know that, but there are times when workers need a wage rise, and they need it now. I think the scaremongering about job losses is simply that: scaremongering. It is not a reality. We know that under the previous government, over on that side of the chamber, wages had the lowest growth on record. Real wages went down for years and years under the guys over there, and workers really struggled. When workers get good wage rises, we know that they have higher productivity. That is demonstrated by workers who are paid proper wages, but, of course, those opposite don't know about that because they kept wages down for 10 years.

There were five days of hearings in this inquiry. That was more public hearings than for any other workplace related bill inquiry since the Fair Work Act commenced over a decade ago. So there have been more hearings on this bill than what those people over there had when they made changes to the act. We, the education employment committee that ran that inquiry, heard from employers, employer groups, the ACTU, individual unions, workers, not-for-profit organisations, academics and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. As I said, we know there is consultation that is still happening as the bill moves through the Senate. We have consulted. Those guys should stop that scaremongering because it just frightens people. It's absolutely ridiculous.

People deserve to get wage increases. People look to us, and they will now get a wage increase through the Labor Party, through the government. They deserve it because, for 10 years, those opposite kept them suppressed and their wages suppressed.