Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The seat of McEwen will be the second-most impacted seat by this government's penalty rate cuts. Some 8,000 people are about to lose their penalty rates on 2 July while those opposite give themselves a minimum tax cut of $6,000. Just think about that for a minute: that means that, because of cuts for people who work in pharmacies and in shops, some $19 million of disposable income will come out of the economy just so the ideologues on the other side can ensure that they get their tax cut. You have got to sit there and wonder: why does a Prime Minister who can hide millions of dollars overseas in tax havens need to give himself an $8,000 tax cut while the average worker finds himself losing some $2,500 a year? Think about the logic that they are using on the other side.

The government says the businesses will be able to open longer. But what they are actually saying is that people in rural communities will have to work longer for the same amount of money, while these guys sitting here get themselves some $5,000 to $8,000 a year in tax cuts. It is ridiculous to cut penalty rates when inequality is at a 75-year high. At the moment, we have the most unemployed people in this nation's history. Wages are stagnant, business profits are growing, and the only thing we can see is a government hell-bent on bringing in a tax cut for themselves. The difference is quite clear: Labor stands up for people, while those opposite stand on them.