House debates

Thursday, 4 February 2021

Matters of Public Importance

Workplace Relations

4:05 pm

Photo of Stephen JonesStephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

There is nothing so dangerous as a government so convinced that they've got the next election in the bag that they've stopped listening. They've stopped caring. They're running around slapping themselves on the back. In fact, they're so busy slapping themselves on the back that to the average worker it feels more like a slap in the face. They're so happy with themselves that they can't see what's going on. Two million Australians are either out of work or looking for more work, because the number of hours they're getting is not enough to put food on the table. Casualisation is at record highs. One in five Australian workers is in insecure work. And didn't we see the consequence of this in the midst of the pandemic! We saw workers without rights, without job security and without support from this government. They're so happy with themselves, so blind to the circumstances affecting one in five Australians, that they have absolutely no answers to their predicament.

If the only tool you have, as the cliche goes, is a hammer, then every problem in the world looks like a nail. The problem with this government is that every worker, as far as they're concerned, is a cost, and therefore the only way to increase employment is to cut costs—to cut wages. That is literally what their plan for a post-pandemic recovery looks like: 'Somehow, if we cut workers' wages, we'll create more jobs.'

We look at workers differently. We look at workers as having families and bills to pay. We look at a worker as somebody with aspirations for a better life. We understand that if you cut that worker's wages then everybody is worse off. We think that the answer to this economic malaise that we are in is a wage boost, not a wage cut.

If there is one group of workers that sits firmly inside the blind spot of this government, it's older workers—those workers aged between 55 and 65. They were doing it tough before the pandemic. Life has got worse under this government. If they have a job, it's less secure. If they're out of work and on unemployment benefits, their payments are about to get cut. This government has no answer for older workers. In fact, every single one of their policies seems to be aimed at making their situation worse: their rights at work cut, their jobs more insecure. They thought they had till age 65 to put away retirement savings. This government is going to cut their super, making it harder for them to provide self-sufficiency in their retirement. One in five Australians—

Mr Falinski interjecting

This bloke over here laughs; he thinks it's funny that one in five Australians—

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