Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I do thank the member for Bass for this very important motion because inequality is on the rise internationally and—sadly—also in Australia. It is true that Australia has done a far better job than many other developed economies, over the last 20 or 30 years, of avoiding entrenched inequality and higher levels of poverty, but nobody can contest that the rise in inequality in Australia and the attack on low-income earners—driven by this government—is going to result in higher wealth and income inequality. There are a whole raft of policies tearing away at the social fabric, policies that attack conciliation and arbitration, the minimum wage, decent wages for people who work on Sundays, penalty rates and family payments. This government is mounting a full-scale assault on the social safety net and low- and middle-income earners. That will drive up poverty and take us down the American road, which has seen a hollowed-out middle-class and an even bigger army of working poor.

This government is driven, in its policies and tenor, by some of the wealthiest people in this country and they represent some of the wealthiest electorates in this country. The current Prime Minister has the highest average income of any electorate in the House of Representatives: No. 1 of the 150. The Deputy Prime Minister has No. 2 of the 150. The former Prime Minister has No. 3 of the 150. The former Treasurer had No. 4. And the list goes on.

This country's policy settings are being driven by a group of people who live in very wealthy communities, and they simply suffer from the blindness of affluence. They do not walk in the same shopping aisles as average Australians. If they did, they would not be prosecuting a case that is going to force young jobseekers to wait five weeks for Newstart. What is that going to do to inequality and poverty in our community? They would not cut support for young people aged between 22 and 24 who will be pushed from Newstart to youth allowance, losing around $48 a week. What impact will that have on poverty? What impact will that have on the life chances of those young people?

So we are seeing a full-scale assault on the social safety net and particularly on the industrial relations system that has underpinned, in this country, a commitment to growth with equity, the central mission of the Labor Party. It is why we were formed way back in the 1890s: if we create prosperity, its purpose is to spread opportunity. It is laughable to listen to those opposite try to defend their absurd position on penalty rates by arguing that we created the Fair Work Act. Bloody oath we did—to defend working people, improve their conditions, make sure they get a fair sure of the productivity which grows our country, and make sure that wages rise in line with productivity growth. We did all of those things, and we continue to do them, because they stand there to protect working people from the likes of the people that run this government.

Some of the wealthiest people in this country are implementing policies which are ripping away at the heart of opportunity in our community. At the core of what we on this side of the House argue is social mobility: wherever you come from, whatever your gender, whatever your race and whatever your economic circumstances, you should be able to rise up in this country and achieve for yourself and your family. The underpinnings of that are a decent minimum wage and the ability to bargain collectively, which are under assault in an obscene way by the wealthy people opposite. Health and education, the fundamentals of peace of mind for families but also fundamental to the economic progress of a country, are under assault from those on the other side.

So, wherever we look, we have a government driven by the 'survival of the fittest' mentality. You see it now. Their signature policy is a $50 billion tax cut for some of the wealthiest companies in the world—simply voodoo economics. The claim that that will drive growth and drive higher income for workers is simply absurd. It is laughable, and it is not backed up by the modelling that comes from the Treasury department, which has exposed what it is: simply an attempt to further concentrate wealth in our community. But it does not drive growth, because this government will not make the investments in critical economic infrastructure and in education and training, the investments which will really drive the income of the country and the incomes of hardworking Australians who get up in the morning, go to work, come home, do it again and expect a fair go in our system. They are not getting it from the Liberals.

See this speech in context