Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We know in Australia that the economy, supposedly of jobs and growth, is absolutely not delivering for middle Australians. Hardworking Australian men and women are working in an environment where their efforts are simply no longer rewarded with higher wages. They're feeling the pain of that in the choices that they need to make for themselves and for their families, and the opportunities that they are able to provide for the children.

The Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia has described Australia as experiencing a 'crisis of low pay'. We know that wage growth remains stubbornly at record lows. We've heard time and time again from hardworking Australian men and women that they're absolutely struggling with the current context of their wage situation. Rising costs of living and failure to manage the electricity costs of this country—despite their bragging about their solution to major national problems—sees this government simply out of touch with hardworking, ordinary Australians, who are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.

In that context, we have a government that continues to malign unions who stand up for hardworking, ordinary Australians. Many Australians find their first jobs in the retail sector, and I know that one very important union that represents them and helps them understand the rights and responsibilities that they have in the workplace is the SDA—the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association. It's one of Australia's largest trade unions. The membership that it covers looks after young people and older people working in retail, in fast food, in warehousing, in hairdressing, in pharmacy and also in modelling. The SDA's continued and consistent advocacy has helped ensure that Australian retail and fast-food workers are, I'm glad to say, amongst the highest paid workers in the retail industry in the world. That didn't just happen by accident. It didn't happen by an act of generosity. It happened because of hard work by a union and its representatives in the workplace who stood up for working Australians. Earlier this year they demonstrated this again with their advocacy for the new Coles agreement that has recently come into effect and that covers the pay and working conditions of over 80,000 Australian workers.

I'd like to take this opportunity to put on the record my congratulations to the SDA, their delegates and their members. In particular, I would like to single out a few delegates for their dedication and their hard work. Through their efforts they have managed to improve the conditions and lives of 80,000 Australian men and women, and that is no small feat. In particular I'd like to acknowledge Bernardine Kennedy from Greenhills, Glad Caldwell from Kotara, Kelly Brown from Kotara, Angela Chivers from Lisarow, Jill Kennedy from Salamander Bay, Donna Ball from The Junction, Iris Fraser from Newcastle, Charmain Cribb from Waratah, Moya Bell from Umina, Heidi Bodkin from Erina, Christine Weyling from Wadalba, Lynley Gosevich from Toukley and Mark Crowfoot from Cessnock. These are people who have stood up for their fellow Australians in their workplace. They have done that out of goodwill for their workplace, for the people who work alongside them and to make sure that fair conditions are actually enabled.

The SDA and its delegates, on behalf of members, secured this new agreement, which included preserving above-award take-home pay and conditions. Thanks to their efforts, over 80,000 Coles workers will receive pay rises—in just a couple of weeks, in July—for each year of the agreement, and workers already received an immediate one-off payment earlier this year. This is particularly significant at a time when, under this government, wages are at record lows and cost-of-living pressures are crippling so many households. Thanks to their efforts, penalty rates, which remain a fundamental part of a strong safety net for Australian workers, will mirror the award. This is also particularly significant at this time when the Turnbull government will not join with Labor and the unions to fight to protect penalty rates. In fact, they nearly celebrated in dance-like movements on the other side of this chamber when penalty rates were cut.

Thanks to the SDA's efforts, casual employees, subject to some conditions, have the right to request to convert to full-time or part-time work if they have worked a pattern of hours over 12 months. This is particularly significant at this time when the workforce is increasingly casualised, not due to the choice of workers. This matters particularly for young people, who need the benefit of secure work to have a sense that they can buy into their own future. What I've seen, sadly, in many of the young people I have met in the course of my work with mental ill health is a constant sense of uncertainty about the world in which they live, with insecure work, uncertainty about pay and conditions, and the removal of penalty rates. All of that's happened in the five years that this government has been in place. It creates a pressure cooker that manifests itself in distress and anxiety, which are absolutely on the rise. Among young people in particular, but increasingly across the nation, that escalates into the lack of hope and the despair that we're seeing manifest, in the worst instances, in terrible loss of life as people commit suicide.

The work of unions, alongside good work in this parliament, can transform the lives of Australians for the better. Sadly, we've seen unions and their hard work totally maligned by those opposite. I know that the young people in my community who go to work are very much supported by the work of the SDA in ensuring that they find safe working conditions when they enter into their first job in retail. It's clear to me that the SDA and its delegates have done a remarkable job in securing improved pay and conditions for Coles workers. I want to commend them for their efforts and I want to signal to other large corporates that ethical practice in business is surely good for business as well as for the workers who are a vital part of that business's success.

In the time that remains to me, I would like to put on the record my profound respect for an amazing Australian who passed earlier this year, Professor David Cooper AC. Professor Cooper, born in Sydney in 1949, sadly passed away earlier this year, and I was honoured to be able to attend his memorial service at Sydney Town Hall last week, on 14 June. There were many tributes to this remarkable Australian who gave his life to the medical profession, a man of incredible compassion and care for his patients, a man of wonderful intellect, and a man of generosity of spirit who transformed the lives of so many.

When the AIDS crisis hit Australia, Professor David Cooper's practical work in discerning the immunity dimensions of that illness was world-beating. It was at the cutting edge. He continued in that work throughout his life. I felt it was an amazing tribute that so many attended from overseas to give him the acknowledgement that he so truly deserved. I want to point to the survival of Craig Cooper, a former patient of David Cooper and CEO of Positive Life NSW, who spoke at the memorial service about how Professor Cooper had looked after him and others. Craig contracted HIV very early on in the period when the disease was becoming known. It is just amazing, when we remember that people thought this disease was going to be a death sentence for everyone, to think that one of David Cooper's very first patients actually has outlived him and was there to pay tribute to him. What a remarkable testimony to the work of one man in his lifetime!

I also want to acknowledge his amazing family for their generosity in sharing such a beautiful man with the world. Dorrie, Becky, Llana, Dan, Max and Teddy, your generosity in sharing 'Papa Coops', as you called him, with the rest of the world has left an amazing legacy. In your comments on the day and, indeed, in the notations in the book, you spoke of his delight in acknowledging others for enabling him to do the work. A man of great intellect, a man of great heart, a great Australian—we have lost him. I want to put on the record my great respect for him, his work and his family.