Susan Lamb (Longman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recently I hosted a forum in my electorate to hear from local seniors, to hear the issues that they were concerned about. While I was listening to those local seniors, one phrase in particular stood out to me. 'They keep moving the goalposts,' one man said to me. It stood out because that is exactly what I have been hearing people say time and time again: 'They just keep moving the goalposts. It's never for better; it's always for the worse.' The man who said that was referring to issues related to health and health insurance, but I have heard this right across all manner of government portfolios. I heard from a local man whose wife has lived here for years, and they have just begun the application for citizenship. Now her future is uncertain, and they are worried about the impact that it will have on his family. Students across Australia have been reeling at raised university fees and lower HECS repayment thresholds, and up to 700,000 workers from all across Australia are set to face vicious cuts to their take-home pay from the reduction in penalty rates.

This government is like Lucy from Charlie Brown. Every time it has lined someone up for a kick, it pulls the ball away. It is cruel and it is unfair, and it is becoming far too commonplace under this Turnbull government. One person who has had that ball pulled out from under them is a young worker from my electorate. Her name is Cat, and I have spoken about her before. Come 1 July, in just five weeks, she will receive a pay cut. She works for a large Australian retailer. She may not be your typical worker, though, because she has really planned out her finances. She has calculated and she has budgeted out into the future to finance her home and her family, and—if the coalition does not move the retirement goalposts—she has tried to time her retirement. But cutting the take-home pay of workers will mean that all of her budgeting will fall significantly short.

People like to tout the idea that our young people need to spend more time looking into the future and spend more time tracking their finances. But the thing is that, with the way this government is continually making things worse for them, they really cannot, because any reasonable forecasting will eventually fall short because of this government's unreasonable measures.

I am growing tired of saying it, but I will say it again, and I will say it again, and I will say it again until this government finally listens: do not proceed with these vicious cuts. On 2 July, which will be the first anniversary of Prime Minister Turnbull's election win, I am sure there will be some gaudy celebrations in the LNP HQ, but 2 July will also be Sunday, and thousands of Australians will also go without their hard-earned penalty rates. Prime Minister Turnbull, that really is no cause for celebration.