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

If there's one thing we can all agree on, it is that Aussies have been doing it absolutely tough. Australian workers have suffered through nine years of wage decline, and we've suffered a decade of the Australian middle class going backward. This is an emergency. When working families are struggling to fill up the car or to put food on the table, when they can't get secure work, when their wages are going backwards, that is an emergency. We were elected to this place to legislate solutions to challenges Australians face. That's why we're all here, and there's no greater or more urgent challenge than the decline of wages and secure work. There is no greater or more urgent challenge than that decline.

The secure jobs, better pay bill contains solutions to those challenges. The opposition and their mates in the employer lobby will always say that now is not the time. They'll always say that workers should wait a little bit longer. Australian women have been waiting for over a century to get real pay equity at work, and Australian workers have been waiting for 10 long years for a pay rise. We could wait another 10 years to pass this legislation, and the opposition and some in the employer lobby would still say it's too soon because low wages are part of a deliberate strategy that will never change for that lot.

The shadow Treasurer has been complaining that this bill will push up wages. Yes, the bill will push up wages! And we make no apology for it. Australian workers and Australian women deserve their fair share—let's get it done.