Page 871 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 22 March 2017
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The Chamber of Commerce stated that “a reduction in these penalty rates will have a positive impact on their employment decisions, both in terms of how many people they employ and the number of hours offered to staff”. For students, parents and veterans who rely on penalty rates, the suggestion that they can now work more hours to make up for the pay cut is disgraceful. It is a shocking attack on working people in our community. These people are already among the lowest paid in our society. Anyone who claims that the cuts will have a positive impact has never had to rely on Sunday pay to buy the kids school shoes for the year or to stay on top of rent payments.
Many Canberrans rely on Sunday pays to pay their bills. Wage growth is low and inequality is high. The federal Treasurer, Mr Morrison, is right when he says that low wage growth is one of the biggest economic risks facing Australia today. This is especially true in Canberra, where the manic obsession of the Liberal Party with stripping pay and conditions from public servants is putting our local economy at risk.
The cut to penalty rates looks on the face of it to affect just people in the retail and hospitality sector. But we know it is the thin edge of the wedge; they will be back later to strip more rights off workers. We should also consider the broader economic damage of these changes to our local economy.
As a former small business person—as a hairdresser, for anyone who may have missed it—I can spell out the effects of these changes on local businesses. At first glance, the pay rate of hairdressers and barbers is not a part of this ruling. A deeper look, however, reveals the damage that will be done. Those with the income security and stability of a nine to five job get their hair cut on the weekend or after hours. The people who are losing these penalty rates are the midweek customers that hairdressers so vitally rely on. Across Canberra, businesses like hairdressers are already under pressure from cuts to the public service and cuts to public servants’ pay. These cuts to penalty rates will increase that pressure.
Earlier, we heard Mr Coe tell us that we should be concentrating on Canberra issues. I cannot think of a much more Canberra issue than people’s ability to pay their bills, to be treated fairly at work and to live with dignity. These cuts are a shameful and ideological attack on the most vulnerable people in our society. These cuts will disproportionately affect women and young people. They target workers who are already among the lowest paid in society. How is that fair?
I believe that penalty rates are important and worth fighting for. They play a legitimate role in compensating the people who work long hours at unsociable times. We cannot ask the lowest paid people in our society to take a pay cut. I commend this motion to the parliament.
MR STEEL (Murrumbidgee) (12.21): I thank Mr Pettersson for bringing this motion forward today. This decision on penalty rates directly affects the many thousands of workers in the pharmacy, hospitality and retail sectors in the ACT. I can empathise with these workers because, as a young student working in retail, I used to be one of the almost 40 per cent of young Canberrans who earned penalty rates here in Canberra.
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