Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will take your interjection about Coles workers. Retail workers in my community are worse off. They are worse off—up to $77 per week worse off. The cut in penalty rates is a cruel blow to hardworking Australians, and it comes at the same time as the Reserve Bank sounds the alarm bells on slow wages growth and the very real impact this will have on Australian standards of living. The government can no longer claim that this is the work of an independent judicial body. They had a chance to support Labor's legislation overriding this decision, and they did not. The Turnbull government made its position very clear by voting to support this massive cut to the wages of low paid Australians. To make matters worse, Australian families will be confronted by massive hikes in their electricity bills from 1 July, thanks to this government's flip-flop on energy policy.

But Mr Turnbull's attacks on fairness do not end there. While he constantly asks Australians to tighten their belts, he and Treasurer Scott Morrison have completely lost control of the country's finances. Gross debt will shortly reach three-quarters of a trillion dollars—that is three-quarters of a trillion dollars! And the projected budget deficit has risen on 10 occasions since the confected 'budget emergency' was first mooted. He will not address the exceedingly generous tax concessions which heavily favour wealthy Australians and is committed to a $65 billion tax cut for big business.

We may now have a real budget emergency, thanks to this government, but, rather than saving money by not giving tax cuts to millionaires and big business and not subsidising the private investment which is driving up house prices, the government continues along the road of unfairness by cruel cuts to school funding. The government is trying desperately to push through $22 billion in cuts to the nation's schools. I quote from the minister representing the Minister for Education:

The member for Dobell has 44 schools in her electorate, which miss out on an average of $7.1 million each under the coalition's program, so she must go to the people of Dobell and explain why they are better off.

They are shameless! This is not even sham fairness from this government.

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