Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to rise and put on the record some comments from a very good friend of mine and a very good friend of young Australian workers, Mr Gerard Dwyer, the secretary of the SDA union. I want to acknowledge his leadership and to quote him in response to yesterday's decision to ensure that 18-year-olds get a fair and decent wage, as reported in the ABC article:

National Secretary for the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) Gerard Dwyer said it was a "landmark decision, up there with the introduction of equal pay for women in the 1970s".

It may take longer than we would have liked, but the principle has been established that no longer will 18-year-olds be treated as second-class citizens. I also want to acknowledge the great leadership and the campaign vigour and continuation that was demonstrated by the assistant secretary, Helen Cooney, and my good friends in New South Wales: the secretary of the SDA New South Wales, Bernie Smith; and David Bliss, the secretary of the SDA northern branch. These are men and women who are unionists, who collectively work for the benefit of many, many young Australians.

In the course of the 'Adult Age = Adult Wage' campaign, a number of young people came to this parliament to put on the record the reality of the kind of work they do. For some of them, by the time they turned 18, they were certainly not novices. They were certainly not inexperienced. They had been holding down one, sometimes two jobs already for three years. Amongst people that gave their stories to parliamentarians who had ears to listen—and I acknowledge many of my colleagues here on the Labor side and also good people from across the aisle who care about fairness—young people were talking about how they were in families where they, in fact, were the primary earner at 19, sometimes undertaking caring responsibilities for their parents, sometimes in situations where they were the only person able to secure a job in their environment. Sometimes these were regional communities. They were bringing home a wage. To have allowed this injustice to have continued for so long when so many young people have been giving 100 per cent of their effort at age 18, age 19, age 20, with sometimes, at that stage, five years experience managing workplaces, leading in workplaces but subject to a discount on the wage that they were able to take home simply because of their age—nothing to do with their capacity, nothing to do with their level of responsibility, nothing to do with the excellence that they delivered in their workplaces.

For those who are shocked about the reality, let me tell you that, until this decision, hard-won by a campaign led by the SDA union, wages for 18-year-olds in sectors where we see them so frequently—in retail, fast food and pharmacy—were fixed at 70 per cent of the full award wage. It went up to 80 per cent for those who are 19 and 90 per cent for those who reach age 20. The proposal for change that has now been advanced from the Fair Work Commission will ensure that these young workers who are increasingly experienced in the workplace will start to benefit over a four-year period from December this year. Right now, the commission has indicated there will be no changes to wage rates for workers aged 18 to 20 who have less than six months of experience at their current workplace. But it ensures that, as they experience a longer stay, they will, in fact, get parity in their pay.

The arguments put to me were very, very strong, and these are the facts: 18-year-olds in Australia can vote, they can drive, and in times of crisis and wars they've put their lives on the line for Australia. The very least we can do is ensure they get fair and decent wages that aren't discriminatory because of their sometimes tender years.