Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Income inequality in Australia is increasing. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. When we look at income levels, this is the case. When we look at profit share of GDP, this is the case. In fact, recent Bureau of Statistics data show that labour's share of gross domestic product has fallen to 51.5 per cent, down from 54.2 per cent in the third quarter of last year. At the same time the profit share of GDP has gone from 24.5 per cent to a five-year high of 27.5 per cent. In respect of the recent mining boom, Australian households have not seen one cent of that additional income that came to Australia as a result of that; it has gone into the pockets of businesses. Decisions such as the decision of the Fair Work Commission in February of this year to cut weekend penalty rates for people working in hospitality, in retail, fast food, restaurant, clubs and pharmacy awards will further increase income inequality in Australia and will make life more difficult for a very vulnerable group of workers at a very difficult time.

In this respect, I applaud and support the leadership that has been shown by the Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, in bringing this issue to the parliament. It is great to see that, finally, some on that side have awoken to what an issue this is—and the member for Dawson has moved a similar bill. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition said, when this case was handed down, that we would not stand by and allow vulnerable workers' penalty rates to be cut, that we would take action, despite the opposition of others and despite the opposition of the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull. The Leader of the Opposition moved the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Take Home Pay) Bill 2017. This bill will ensure that no employees' or prospective employees' take-home pay is reduced as a result of a variation to a modern award. That is leadership. That is standing up for the rights of low-paid workers in this country and protecting penalty rates.

If you look at who is affected by the Fair Work Commission decision, analysis of recent ABS data and certain studies show that the characteristics of those workers who are affected by this decision and who work in the hospitality, retail and pharmacy industries are as follows: they are predominantly women; they are predominantly younger people; they tend to be students; and they tend to work on a casual and part-time basis. There is by no means any permanency to the work that they are doing. These are vulnerable workers. They tend to be on low incomes with no bargaining power whatsoever within their workplaces. It does not take much to push someone in a precarious position like that over the edge in terms of their income.

The effect of the Fair Work Commission decision will be to make life harder for those people in these industries, many of whom are already struggling to make ends meet. It is not an insignificant number of people. We are talking about 700,000 Australian workers who are potentially affected by the Fair Work Commission decision, and up to $70 per week is going to be taken away from them as a result of the decision to cut penalty rates. I have analysed one of those particular awards. A person who works just one regular Sunday shift per week in the hospitality industry is going to be $1,840 a year worse off. These are people who are already on low incomes—they are not multimillionaires—and the effect of this decision, which the Prime Minister stands by and supports and is allowing to happen, is that they are going to have their take-home pay cut by up to $2,000 a year.

It makes life harder for people in a difficult position already, who are struggling to make ends meet, and that is unfair. It certainly, in our view, does not represent object (b) in the Fair Work Act:

… ensuring a guaranteed safety net of fair, relevant and enforceable minimum terms and conditions through the National Employment Standards, modern awards and national minimum wage orders …

Labor will not stand by and allow this to occur. Labor is acting. Labor is standing up for low-paid workers. Labor is showing leadership on this issue of protecting penalty rates. Labor will always protect the take-home pay and penalty rates of Australian workers, and this bill represents that.

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