Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak of some of the issues facing young people both in my electorate and right throughout the country. In particular, I want to address the Turnbull government's ongoing attacks upon our young people, whether they are young people studying, at TAFEs, schools or universities, or planning to go to university or looking for work. I also want to speak about the government's cruel plans to cut penalty rates, which will particularly impact on young workers, and the government's failure to address high youth unemployment and the lack of training for young people.

Our younger generation, our country's future, have been left behind and forgotten by this government. We can look at some of the facts. As of 2014, 42 per cent of people in the 20 to 24 age bracket were engaged in some form of education and training—a very large amount. This group, these young Australians, are most at risk from the Turnbull government's very vicious cuts to schools, TAFEs and universities, which make it very difficult for them to access the quality education they need and deserve, and policies such as the government's $100,000 university degrees. That policy particularly impacts regional Australia very harshly. It means many of those younger kids just cannot get to uni. Of course, in our regions, we blame the National Party for these rather harsh cuts and harsh plans for universities.

It is hard to understand how the Liberal-National party, who go around shutting down local TAFES and underfunding schools and universities, supposedly have plans for Australia to become an 'innovation nation'. How can we do that when your cuts are so widespread? In opposition to all the government's very vicious attacks on our young people, at the last election Labor was very proud to present a long-term plan for the future of education and the future of our young people. That is because we understand that education is not just an expense to be cut—as those across think it is—but is in fact an investment, a great opportunity. We know that educating and training our younger generations, not giving tax cuts to big multinationals, is the key to our country's economic future.

I and the Labor party will continue to stand in opposition to this government, which fails to understand many simple principles about providing for our younger generation. Sadly, simple cuts are not the extent of the Liberal-Nationals campaign against our young people. For over 100 years, penalty rates have long protected workers, particularly those working on weekends, and many working conditions have been protected. Those people have been compensated for the irregular hours of work that they do. It is very difficult having to work long hours and on weekends and therefore give up time that many other people spend with their families and friends. I would like to note that the Labor Party made a submission to the Fair Work Commission arguing in favour of penalty rates, because we acknowledge their importance. If the Turnbull government actually cared about workers' rights at all, they would have made a similar submission.

This issue, as I have said, affects many workers who access penalty rates, but it disproportionately impacts young people, as many of them work in the hospitality and retail sector. We will not be holding our breath for those across to suddenly understand the need to support young people, particularly when the majority of them continue to argue that penalty rates should be cut. This is an issue that does really affect young people, and it will affect those hardworking young people who can least afford it. Many of these jobs are in the hospitality sector, as I said, where workers are already among the bottom 30 per cent of Australian income earners.

Retail is another common area of employment for young people, and it features the largest proportion of low-paid workers in Australia. A McKell Institute analysis reveals that, in rural Australia alone, retail and hospitality workers could lose between $370 million and $1.55 billion each year if the Turnbull government's plans to cut penalty rates succeed. It would really unfairly target those young workers. It should be noted that John Hart, the CEO of Restaurant and Catering Australia, has conceded that cutting penalty rates will not generate new employment and says that, rather, if penalty rates are cut, people will work more hours for the same pay. That is the reality. They will just be working a lot more hours.

Labor will continue to fight for young people, who are continuously attacked and punished by the Turnbull government. We will continue to do that on many different occasions. The youth unemployment rate as of October 2016 was at 12.5 per cent. That is a very big concern. We are seeing this government with many plans that are cruel to young people, such as their plans to force young people to live without any support for month, while displacing real jobs with some of their very exploitative internships. In contrast to this, Labor has been focused on getting more young people into work. Our Working Futures program, which we took to the election, would have meant much greater training for young people, which is vitally important. We will continue to fight for young people, when this government continues to attack them on all fronts.