Stephen Smith (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry, Infrastructure and Industrial Relations) Share this | Hansard source

This MPI is very straightforward: it is cost of living up, take-home pay down. In question time the Prime Minister was questioned about seven consecutive interest rate increases. His response to that was to say that the economy is magnificent. The magnificent seven interest rate increases! That is the Prime Minister’s message to working Australian families. That is the Prime Minister’s message to Middle Australia.

We have inflation up, interest rates up and the grave danger that the Reserve Bank next week will increase interest rates on the eighth consecutive occasion. Why does the Reserve Bank say there is upward pressure on inflation and interest rates? Because of the government’s complacency on skills and infrastructure. Its complacency on skills is putting upward pressure in the wages area where there are skills shortages and its complacency on infrastructure is causing capacity constraints. So to those Australians working hard, battling to make ends meet, trying to pay their mortgages, trying to pay the cost of putting food on the kitchen table and trying to pay for their childcare, the Prime Minister is saying: ‘Next week, Melbourne Cup day, when the Reserve Bank meets—seven magnificent interest rates increases.’

When it comes to the capacity of working Australians to meet that cost and that burden, the government’s approach is to say, ‘We’re going to attack your take-home pay, we’re going to attack your penalty rates, we’re going to attack your overtime payment, we’re going to attack your leave loading and we’re going to attack your shift allowance.’ How do we know that is the government’s approach to take-home pay? Because at Senate estimates at 9.20 today we saw a red-hot scandal, a red-hot cover-up. At 9.20 today the government refused to allow the Senate, the parliament and the Australian people to have the evidence—the government’s own empirical data, the government’s own statistics—about the government’s attack on take-home pay.

This was put to the Prime Minister during question time today. The first time we put this to the Prime Minister it was put in a different context. We get used to the Prime Minister being a serial misleader when it comes to industrial relations matters. Every time something is put to the Prime Minister he will blackguard whoever puts it to him. He will do anything, say anything, cover up anything and mislead on anything to try and avoid the adverse political, social and economic consequences of his extreme and unfair industrial relations legislation. In question time the member for Capricornia put to the Prime Minister something she had innocently found on the website of Brisbane law firm Connor Hunter. It said:

The Federal Government’s work Choices amendments offer you the opportunity to reduce your overheads significantly.

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Employers can remove award conditions ... without compensating the employee at all. This affords employers the opportunity to reduce weekly pay through making cuts to penalty rates, overtime rates, leave loading, shift allowances and other forms of remunerating employees.

The member for Capricornia simply asked the Prime Minister, ‘They’re right, aren’t they?’ He would not answer the question and he went on like a blackguard. Why would he not answer the question? Because on 29 May the Office of the Employment Advocate provided to Senate estimates all the evidence, the empirical data, about how AWAs were impacting on the so-called protected conditions. Courtesy of Connor Hunter, other firms and our own analysis, we know that there is no protection. These conditions can be wiped out, for no compensation, at the stroke of a pen. In Senate estimates in May were we told that, between 27 March and 29 May—a period of a couple of months—100 per cent of AWAs excluded at least one of the protected award conditions of leave loadings, penalty rates and shiftwork allowances. We heard that 64 per cent removed leave loadings, 63 per cent removed penalty rates, 52 per cent remove shiftwork loadings, 41 per cent did not contain gazetted public holidays and 16 per cent excluded all of the protected award conditions.

No wonder the government did not want the up-to-date information out. The OEA could give it out on 29 May, but they cannot give it out today. Why is that? Because the government knows that the adverse implications which will flow from that empirical data being released will again throw a spotlight on their attack on the take-home pay of working Australians and their capacity to make ends meet through their penalty rates, their overtime, their leave loadings and their shift allowances.

The minister, in his contribution, said: ‘We keep records. The government keeps records. We keep a record of everything that the Leader of the Opposition says and we make it public.’ They also keep a record of what AWAs do, but they refuse to make it public. They engage in red-hot cover-ups—a scandal of the highest order.

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