Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yet again, we see this government—and it does not matter who the Prime Minister is—out there proudly talking about how they want to cut the penalty rates of 4.5 million hardworking Australians, many of whom are on low pay. And how much will it cost these low-paid workers? What would happen if this government, whether it be led by Malcolm Turnbull or Tony Abbott, succeeded in cutting penalty rates? This government will see $50 million taken out of the pockets—the household budgets—of some of our hardest-working yet lowest-paid Australians.

We saw, over the three-week break, this government try and spin it any which way they could, because they know how unpopular this is in the electorate and they know how it will hurt people. We first heard the Prime Minister try and justify that: 'We now have a seven-day-a-week economy; it is no longer a Monday-to-Friday economy.' Well, let us see what happens when we try and move the grand final to a Tuesday. Let us see what happens when we try and move the NRL grand final to a Monday; let us see how many people are jumping up and down then about penalty rates and weekends. Then they said: 'Let's introduce tax credits'—more spin—and yesterday the Prime Minister tried to stand here and say: 'We support collective bargaining, and people may wish to give up their penalty rates through collective bargaining.' There is a very big difference between collective bargaining and cutting— (Time expired)