Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I had the real privilege today to talk to some aged-care workers. These workers were nurse assistants, enrolled nurses and registered nurses who are working in the aged-care sector. They do very valuable work in our community in aged-care facilities and in people's homes right around the country. It was really interesting, in the conversations with them, how frightened they are that they will be next when it comes to cuts in take-home pay, and they are frightened about that because of the penalty rates. They are concerned because penalty rates make up around 20 per cent of their take-home pay—in some cases, for some of the workers, depending on their shifts, up to 40 per cent of their take-home pay is in penalty rates.

We heard a harrowing story from a woman who had to take out a mortgage. When she put in her base rate, she was told that she would not be eligible for a mortgage, but when she included penalty rates, she was. She was really pleased that she got that mortgage, but she was really concerned that, if penalty rates are cut and they go further than the current industries—which is their fear—people like her, who are doing great work in the community, who are professionals but are still low-paid, will not be able to participate in the community and do things like buy homes and take out mortgages.

This is a real concern. When we asked a question of the government today in question time, we got the usual stuff: 'It is never going to happen. We are talking about essential services and nurses here.' I do not think the government understand quite what they are doing here when it comes to penalty rates. They have a chance to intervene in the Fair Work Commission decision because of our bill in parliament. They have a chance to say that they will not cut the take-home pay of workers who work shiftwork and weekends and are currently relying on that penalty rate.

In my home state of Tasmania I attended a rally outside Senator Eric Abetz's office and talked to some workers in the hospitality industry, who are going to be affected by the Fair Work Commission decision. We heard from a constituent of mine, Stephen. He underscored just how important penalty rates were to him and his family. He made the point that he and so many of his colleagues and workmates give up precious time over weekends and important holidays like Easter and Christmas to work because of those penalty rates—because they are compensated—and that they would not be willing to work those days if they were not compensated, because that takes them away from their families.

It was interesting, because we held this rally outside Senator Eric Abetz's office on Eight Hours Day, a public holiday—eight hours work, eight hours pay and eight hours sleep was the idea behind Eight Hours Day. Surprisingly, Eric was not at work that day, but they did leave a message for him about the fact that he welcomed this Fair Work Commission decision and that he was suggesting that these workers could wear and cop this cut in penalty rates. Of course, they cannot. But not only can these workers and their families not cop this cut in their penalty rates and their take-home pay; it will impact the whole community.

We hear a lot from the government about how this is going to increase jobs. They have no evidence of that. Never anywhere has it been proven that that will occur. But, interestingly, over the weekend, the Australia Institute also released some data that says it is actually going to affect the federal budget as well as the individuals and their families—in fact it could affect the federal budget by $650 million. The basis upon which they are saying that is if 285,000 people lost an average of $2,744 per year because they are in the 21 per cent tax bracket. We are talking about $656 million over the forward estimates. This is a significant impact on not just those individuals and their families and the time that they give up to work when nobody else wants to work, but also the federal budget. They know that the public overwhelmingly supports penalty rates. They know that the public overwhelmingly agrees with the payment of, and is willing to pay, additional charges on weekends, particularly in the hospitality and tourism industries, because these people are working unreasonable hours when nobody else wants to work. That is what the public and the community think. We have seen poll after poll side with those low-income workers who cannot afford to have this cut. They cannot afford to have this cut. They should not have this cut. The government should stop this cut from happening.