Matt Smith (Leichhardt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. How is the government delivering for Australian workers?

Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

RISHWORTH (—) (): I thank the member for Leichhardt for that question and for his longstanding advocacy for working people in Far North Queensland. Isn't it great to have him join this side of the House? The Albanese Labor government went to the election with a commitment to protect penalty and overtime rates, and we are delivering. We made this commitment because there were cases under way at the Fair Work Commission that would allow, if successful, these entitlements to be stripped away from some of our lowest-paid workers. As a government, we will always back Aussie workers, including our low-paid workers, and, as a government, we refuse to sit by and see workers lose this critical part of their take-home pay.

Penalty and overtime rates matter. They are a longstanding feature and a vital part of the modern award safety net. The modern award safety net supports some of our lowest-paid workers. Workers who rely on penalty and overtime rates are more likely to be women, work part-time, be under the age of 35 and be employed on a casual basis. Retail worker Emily, who was expecting her first baby, said to me that penalty rates give her the room to be able to save for her little bubba and to help her move to make sure that her new family has a roof over its head.

It's for workers like Emily and many others who rely on penalty and overtime rates that we made this commitment. I am proud that in the first three weeks of this term of the new parliament, we passed our law to protect penalty rates as a priority. Since we delivered these protections to penalty and overtime rates, I have met with many, many workers who say they can sleep more soundly at night because they know their penalty rates are protected. I met with Cassidy, who works in retail. She told me that she now feels confident that her penalty rates and overtime won't be taken away. These protections build on our record of delivering better outcomes for working Australians.

Our government has delivered reforms that have boosted wages, have closed the gender pay gap and are creating more jobs. We're now seeing real wages grow, with real wages growing for seven consecutive quarters. More than 1.1 million jobs have been created under this government's watch, and we continue to experience historic record-low unemployment. Of course, the gender pay gap is at a record low. As a government, we will continue to focus on delivering for Australians and working Australians, because that's what Labor governments do.