Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader (Tasmania)) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Defence Industry (Senator Reynolds) to a question without notice asked by Senator O'Neill today relating to employment.

As the last cab off the rank to be promoted, Senator Reynolds, took just 16 seconds to contradict herself during a train wreck interview on Sky News on 10 March 2019. It might have been the fastest backflip in political history. One second Senator Reynolds was disagreeing with her colleague Senator Cormann's comments about wage flexibility being a 'deliberate feature' of the government's policies. She wrongly claimed that it was a suggestion by Bill Shorten. Having learnt that it was a comment from her finance minister, Senator Cormann, she performed a two-step, double-pike backflip. Two contradictory answers in 16 seconds is a record. I think we can agree that in this train wreck interview it was Senator Reynolds's fundamental lack of understanding of economics that was on full display. And to demonstrate that she still hasn't learnt anything, she couldn't even admit that she had mucked up in question time here today. Instead of talking about what her government is doing for wages, Senator Reynolds drove the train further off the tracks by saying:

Really when he's talking about wages, what is Bill Shorten actually talking about? He's talking about the politics of envy.

The only envy I see is from those opposite in their obsession over what Bill Shorten and the Labor Party are doing. No matter how many Liberal ministers humiliate themselves on television, their policy message to Australians is clear: they want to continue to have wages stagnate, they want your wages to be low; it's a deliberate strategy of their government.

Wages growth is the lowest on record, and the Prime Minister isn't doing anything about it. The Prime Minister's only idea is to pretend to deal with low wages by offering a tax cut to Australians. However, this tax cut is fundamentally lower than Labor's bigger, better and fairer tax plan. This is a divided, chaotic and completely out-of-touch government with no plan for Australia's future. Under this government, everything is going up except for wages. Wage rates haven't moved in years, and families are struggling to get ahead. Families in this country are struggling to make their own family budgets. Households and many families are having to dip into their savings to pay for essentials like groceries, petrol, power prices and their rent or mortgage.

As Treasurer, and now as Australia's Prime Minister, Mr Scott Morrison has presided over the lowest wage growth since records began, yet he wants to further cut the wages of hardworking Australians by getting rid of penalty rates. This is how out of touch this government is, and I believe that the Australian people see this government for what it truly is. They're heartless, they're hard, they have no compassion and they have no understanding of what's happening in their own community. All Australians need a pay rise, particularly those on low wages, but this government is not providing any leadership whatsoever on that.

Contrast that to what Labor have already announced as far as our policies are concerned. The only way to see wages increase, to have a living wage, is to elect a Labor Shorten government and to kick this government out of office. Labor will do what those opposite wouldn't do. The minimum wage shouldn't leave families in poverty. We shouldn't have workers having to work two or three jobs to try to meet their family budget commitments. We will fix the law to make sure that the minimum wage is a living wage. A Shorten Labor government will reverse the cuts to penalty rates, take steps to close the gender pay gap, and crack down on sham contracting, wage theft, and the exploitation of Australian workers. This is all that is needed. We have put our policies out there. This government has failed the Australian community and Australian workers. The only way to put more money in your pockets to help our local economies is to elect a Shorten Labor government at the election, which we expect to be announced in a matter of days. (Time expired)