Ross Hart (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We've just received a contribution from the member for Goldstein which focused for five minutes not on the government's record with respect to looking after low-paid workers but simply on the Leader of the Opposition and his role as a leader of the union movement some time ago. This shows the total lack of policy direction from this government and, in effect, it shows just how out of touch the government is with low-paid workers in Australia at the moment.

I rise to support the Fair Work Amendment (Restoring Penalty Rates) Bill 2018. It's often said by commentators and indeed in this place that the news cycle, social media and political culture conspire to create a situation where arguments can be run, won and indeed lost in the space of hours, days or weeks on matters that seem to be of prime importance but, for those not engaged in politics, are of little consequence. If politics is the contest of ideas, those ideas should be about the issues that matter to the electorate. One side of politics may seek to promote its vision for Australia. Our responsibility as the opposition is to set up our alternative.

The contrast between the government's priorities and those reflected in this bill is significant. In fact, the contrast could not be more marked. This government has, at least in my view, a one-point plan, because that is all it has left. This one-point plan involves giving a tax cut to the largest corporations in Australia, including the big banks, in order to drive prosperity, championing the economics of trickle-down. Labor says that the revenue forgone through a tax cut for the big end of town could or should be spent on matters that deserve priority—important priorities like our healthcare system, education and supporting the jobs of the future.

It's important to look at the immediate pressures upon Australian families. Australian voters know that this government cannot be trusted when it makes promises like savings on their power bills. Cost pressures are affecting ordinary Australians every day, and they need to see practical relief—not trickle-down economics, not promises that this government's energy policy will see reductions in power bills and not promises of new employment driven by tax cuts but practical relief which is targeted at those who need it most.

The extraordinary thing is that this government, which claims a mantle of fiscal responsibility, should know that giving a tax cut to the largest corporations means that there is less money in the budget to pay for services that are important for ordinary Australians. They should know, because many economic commentators have been expressing their concern for many years that low wage growth is a significant risk for the Australian economy and threatens growth within the Australian economy, including employment growth, which also has the effect of depressing the amount of tax that will be collected from both personal and corporate income tax. In this setting the government needs to take responsibility for cuts to penalty rates—cuts that affect the take-home pay of more than 700,000 Australian people and cuts that materially affect low-paid workers, students and people in the regions, including northern Tasmania, in which my electorate of Bass is based.

This government is quite properly criticised for being out of touch and failing to understand the pressures that have built up over many years due to low wage growth not keeping pace with cost-of-living increases. This government either doesn't care or simply ignores the fact that many low-paid workers will have suffered a reduction in their income, meaning there is less disposable income circulating within many communities. Small business relies upon customers that are able to access either disposable income, savings or borrowing. Any reduction in the disposable income of their customers will in turn affect those small businesses.

We hear no more about the potential for increased employment in hospitality or retail trade as a consequence of the reduction of weekend penalty rates. How many people really believe the promises that reduction in penalty rates would enable the employment of more staff? Even the government's much-vaunted job creation fails to recognise that wages growth overall is depressed, which in turn creates limitations upon economic growth. Underemployment continues to be a significant problem. People who are in insecure or part-time work are sustained by penalty rates. In some instances they organise their lives so that they are able to work on a Sunday so that they can receive extra income to sustain their families.

The spectre of rising inequality is something that should not be ignored by this government. Whilst the Treasurer insists that inequality is not a problem, economic commentators insist that increased inequality is again a restraint on this economy not just affecting those in insecure work and low-paid work but also limiting the opportunities of businesses to expand and the economy as a whole to grow in a more robust and sustainable manner. Only Labor has a plan to address the immediate concerns of workers that their wages will be cut.

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