Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In just over a week, 10 days to be exact, the Prime Minister will give millionaires a gift of a tax cut of $16,400 and on that same day low-paid workers will get a wage cut. Seven hundred thousand ordinary workers will have their penalty rates cut. Why? Because the Turnbull government does not care about everyday hardworking Australians. Why? Because the Turnbull government is out of touch. This is a government that is determined, that is dedicated, to helping the big end of town while sneering down their noses at hardworking everyday Australians just trying to make ends meet. Like everything this government does, this is an ill-conceived, ill thought-out move with no thought—none—given to those that it will affect, the people who will suffer.

These penalty rate cuts come at a time when unemployment, particularly in Western Australia and even more so in Cowan, is at a record highs and wages growth is at a record lows. It is quite simply cruel and heartless to compound this by taking money from the pockets of our lowest paid workers. And women are going to be particularly hit hard by this—women who are more highly represented in retail and hospitality; women who, like I once was, are single parents raising children and working and studying to try to better themselves and their families; women who are tending to their children and working late nights. Shame on you! (Time expired)

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will remind members to address their comments through the chair. We are not going to degenerate into a shouting match.