Robert Simms (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I certainly echo Senator Brown's comments and concerns about the plebiscite. I rise tonight to talk about penalty rates and the importance they have on the livelihood of everyday Australians. I know this is a key issue in my home state of South Australia. For many, penalty rates are the difference between being able to pay the rent, put food on the table or pay bills.

It is clear that the government established the Productivity Commission for one reason and one reason only—to attack workers' rights by stealth. That is what it is about. They may have put the Work Choices legislation to one side, but their ideological crusade against working people continues. They are still looking for an excuse to dust off Work Choices by another name. The commission have already recommended slashing penalty rates on Sundays for retail and hospitality workers. This shows a blatant disregard for employees in these industries, implying that they are somehow less important than those who work in other sectors and that it is somehow okay to rip money away from those people who are trying to make ends meet. I have to say that I find it really baffling that you have people sitting here in this place earning almost $200,000 trying to rip away benefits from some of our nation's lowest paid workers. People sitting here on red leather and in ivory towers are trying to slash the benefits of those who are the lowest paid in our community.

Like many, I was hopeful that with a change of Prime Minister we might see a change in direction—a government that actually cares about workers and is willing to stand up for their interests. Of course, we know that the Liberals are never going to deliver that. It is becoming clearer and clearer that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is toeing the Abbott line. Tony Abbott 2.0 is here, and it will not be long before the Liberals start moving on their plans to cut penalty rates for nurses, midwives and emergency services personnel.

What do penalty rates mean for Australian workers? I did some promotion on my Facebook account asking my constituents to let me know about the impact of penalty rates. It is good that the minister is here. Hopefully she will listen to these stories and take them into account. I want to share some of these personal stories. I will start with Courtney. Courtney lives in my home state of South Australia. She is 18 and has just started university studies in the area of nursing. She wants to make a start in her profession, but before starting her degree she has had to spend thousands of dollars on studying costs. Further adding to this pressure, of course, is the government's deregulation agenda and the cutting of the Student Start-up Scholarships. I cannot just lay the blame at the feet of the coalition. We have heard a lot about dirty deals, but who could forget the dirty deal done dirt cheap at the eleventh hour of the final parliamentary sitting last year when Labor and the Liberals worked together to scuttle the scholarships and turn those into HECS loans? That was a dirty deal that students have had to pay the price for.

But I am not talking about the Labor Party's capitulation to the Liberals tonight. We could talk much longer than 10 minutes on that. I am talking about the issue of penalty rates. University students cannot work a standard nine-to-five job as they struggle to balance the competing priorities of work and study. With less opportunity to earn an income, every single dollar counts for university students. We know this. Courtney works at a local bakery and she says receiving penalty rates means she is able to focus more time on her studies and have just enough money to enable her to continue with learning.

Do we have a government that is willing to support Courtney as she dedicates years studying at university to become a nurse, to work in a profession that will look after people within our community when they are unwell? No. We have a government that wants to rip away penalty rates and make it almost impossible to balance study and work commitments. When Courtney shared her story with my office, she explained exactly how important penalty rates are to people like her. She said, 'Without penalty rates, studying will be something I will either have to completely remove myself from or have to put off until I have the savings ready and can begin the process of full-time study with part-time work.' Students should not have to choose between study and being able to make ends meet.

Penalty rates recognise that hundreds and thousands of people work unsociable hours—particularly young people, I have to say. That includes people such as Matthew, also a South Australian, who has worked in garden centres for a number of years. It is a labour-intensive job that requires unique skills. Some people might ask, 'Why doesn't he get another job?' That is probably the argument that would come from those opposite. But Matthew says he does not want to get another job because he loves what he is doing. He says: 'I love the enjoyment of helping people make their gardens, plan their veggie patches, bring life into their homes. It's brutal, yes, but it's so satisfying getting home sweat-soaked and dirt-encrusted, with bloody hands. You've moved hundreds of kilos of ceramics, balancing them carefully in peoples cars so they can spend the rest of their weekend getting muddy. I truly love it. That of course leads to, "If you love it then you'll do it without penalty rates." But I won't.'

Matthew says: 'With penalty rates taken away, the weekly wage becomes far too low to live and suddenly you are left wondering whether you can complete the basic food shopping and afford the weekly rent. Penalty rates don't account for this but they do provide an offset. You miss a lot working weekends and public holidays. You miss weddings, birthdays, BBQs, social events, theatre performances and things like the Adelaide Show. You lose a lot too. You lose friends and your sense of value. While penalty rates don't make up for it, they do mean you're getting enough to potentially travel to see people and attend social events.' He says: 'This is dangerous territory. We're already starting to belittle people based on their wage, claiming they're not real jobs if they're entry-level jobs. They're not. These jobs help form the backbone and foundation for the rest of our economy. Penalty rates are important to make sure that everyone else understands these jobs matter and that the people doing them matter and help stop a culture developing where a person's worth is based on their wage.'

I could not agree more with the statement that Matthew has made. Courtney and Matthew are just two examples. There are baristas around the country paying their way through university, mothers at supermarket checkouts having to miss their children's weekend activities and emergency nurses missing special birthdays. All of these people rely on penalty rates. Yet here we see the government once again on a crusade against workers' rights and penalty rates. The Greens will always fight tooth and nail against these changes. We believe that employees must be adequately compensated for working odd hours and giving up their precious personal time with families and friends for work.

As I said before, it is a cruel irony that, so often, we see people who are some of the highest paid workers in this country—politicians, very high-income earners—coming into this Senate chamber and saying, 'Let's dud the benefits of some of our nation's lowest paid workers.' What an appalling position to take—our nation's highest paid workers coming into this chamber, those opposite coming into this chamber, and saying, 'Let's slash the benefits of working people.' It is a deplorable position to take. The Greens do not support that, and we will always defend the interests of working people. We will always stand up for penalty rates because we know that, for so many people in our community, penalty rates are the difference between whether or not you are able to get a meal on the table or pay your rent on time. I have to say that young people, in particular, are hardest hit—

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We've spent a lifetime fighting for working people!

Robert Simms (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am surprised to see the Labor Party heckling me when I am giving a speech on the importance of penalty rates. I would have thought, despite all of the partisanship we have seen in this place, that this would be an issue where the Labor Party would actually be supportive of the Greens' position.

Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You've sold out. You're going to put them in control of the Senate!

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

Robert Simms (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Instead, I am being heckled when I am talking about the rights of working people. Might I say, if we want to talk about selling out low-income earners, I mentioned before the appalling deal that the Labor Party did at the eleventh hour on the last day of parliamentary sitting last year, when they slashed the student scholarships and turned them into a HECS loan. They have got more front than John Martin's when they start pushing this nonsense about people selling out. It is getting so old. I think people can see through it. The Greens do not want to play politics with the issue of penalty rates, but it seems like the Labor Party do tonight. We support the rights of working people and we will always defend them in this place.