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

What an extraordinary time in Australian politics, because the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Dutton, is clearly under the thumb of the richest billionaire in the country, Gina Rinehart. Ms Rinehart is one of the coalition's largest political donors, donating half a million dollars to Mr Dutton last year. She flies Mr Dutton around the country on her private jet, including flying him across the country to Perth for just one hour to attend her 70th birthday. When Mr Dutton is taking a nine-hour round trip to spend one hour at Gina's birthday party, you know something is seriously wrong. This is the same billionaire who complained that Australian workers are lazy and overpaid, saying, 'Africans want to work, and its workers are willing to work for less than $2 a day.' Why not ask whether lowering the minimum wage would make employers hire more people? That's what she said.

Gina wants to pay Australian workers $2 an hour, and, when you look at the Liberals' election platform, you see that Mr Dutton is very happy to oblige. Mr Dutton will repeal the right to disconnect so you can work longer and harder for less. He'll repeal Labor's laws to make it easier for casuals to convert to permanent roles and get better job security. He'll reverse the same job, same pay laws, which have delivered great pay rises for tens of thousands of workers. He'll take that money off them. He'll steal that money out of their pockets and their families' pockets in a cost-of-living challenge. That's just the tip of the iceberg. It's clear you'll be worse under Mr Dutton, because Gina Rinehart wants to cut your pay to line her pockets and Mr Dutton will make it happen.