Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week in the parliament the Morrison government are returning to their happy place: cutting workers' wages. In the Liberals' happy place it is always time to cut workers' wages: economy going well, time to cut wages in case they spiral out of control; economy going badly, time to cut wages in the name of flexibility. No matter the circumstance, no matter what people need and no matter what the experts say, cutting wages is the happy place of Liberal governments. They're so happy there, they even boast that low wages are part of their economic design. They're so happy there that, even in the middle of a global pandemic, they stand ready to cut your pay. They're so happy there that, despite calling our essential workers 'heroes' all through 2020, they're ready to slash their wages in 2021. They are just so happy in this Liberal Party paradise that despite the dire need for us to rebuild our economy based on good secure jobs, the Morrison government has set about doing the exact opposite.

The government's IR omnibus bill includes cuts to your pay with more low-wage non-union agreements, cuts to your overtime and cuts to your right to permanent, secure and regular hours. Their so-called recovery plan will leave Australians worse off: worse off in the middle of an economic crisis; worse off in the middle of a pandemic, when so many workers have worked so hard to keep us safe; and worse off when Australians have done it tougher than any time in the last hundred years. This government are so happy cuddling up to their pay cuts, they've fallen asleep. They haven't even noticed what economist after economist is saying, that right now what we actually need is to get wages moving. Right now what we need is reform to make jobs more secure, not less. We need to build confidence, to build spending and to rebuild hope. But testifying at the Senate inquiry last week, the economists at the Centre for Future Work stated plainly that there are literally no pathways to higher wages in the Morrison government's plan—none. There are only pathways to lower wages. There are only pathways to more insecure jobs.

Twenty-three law academic agree. They say the Morrison government wants to punch a hole in the award safety net, and now nine public health experts have labelled the bill an immediate threat to public health. There is a crisis of insecure work in this country and that crisis supercharged the pandemic, with low-paid, insecure essential workers working two and three jobs to make ends meet. Essential workers in public-facing roles were unable to miss work because with no sick leave, with no buffer and with no savings, they had nothing to fall back on. They needed to work in multiple locations to make ends meet. Christine Thomas, a cleaner who testified at the Senate hearings last week, said it better than I ever could:

I have four small children and a partner in my house, with only one income.

…   …   …

Workers like me continued to work during this pandemic. I worried about my safety and the safety of my families but I needed to keep my job.

…   …   …

In return, the government has pushed forward this bill that will destroy job security. … I don't want this for my future or the future of my children. …Thank you for listening.

If only Scott Morrison would.