Division
Deborah O'Neill When I was last speaking in this debate, on 17 September, I was making the point that on the day that the bill was introduced Senator Leyonhjelm made a contribution which I think expanded on some of the mythology around this critical issue of penalty rates, which is at the heart of some of the points that many contributors to this debate will make. There is always an assumption in public conversation that it is young people who will be affected by this, that young people who are getting their first jobs should almost work for nothing, for the privilege of having a job, and once they have the skills they will transition to a proper wage in a proper way. This is a myth that simply needs to be called for what it is. It is not a reality. This piece of legislation sets up a structure for the underpayment of wages and attempts to put in place an absence of fair wages in the Australian context. We should make no mistake that this bill absolutely represents a race to the bottom for workers' rights and employment standards in this country. The bill clearly wants to keep unions away from the bargaining table, going as far as undermining a worker's right to organise and be represented by a union. The bill wants to do away with penalty rates, which will have a devastating effect on regional and rural economies. It will certainly erase any discretionary spending from the equation when it comes to the family budget. The bill further promotes casualisation of the workforce, and the knock-on effects of that for job security and even workplace safety, as we heard in evidence provided by nurses at the Fair Work Taskforce hearing in Gosford in recent weeks, would be very significant. One of the things that have happened in the interim, between the last time parliament sat and our return today, was a very important hearing of the Senate Education and Employment References Committee, chaired ably by my colleague Senator Lines, who is here in the chamber at this minute. S
Senate, 2015-10-12. affirmative: ayes 34, noes 29.
Question
Deborah O'Neill When I was last speaking in this debate, on 17 September, I was making the point that on the day that the bill was introduced Senator Leyonhjelm made a contribution which I think expanded on some of the mythology around this critical issue of penalty rates, which is at the heart of some of the points that many contributors to this debate will make. There is always an assumption in public conversation that it is young people who will be affected by this, that young people who are getting their first jobs should almost work for nothing, for the privilege of having a job, and once they have the skills they will transition to a proper wage in a proper way. This is a myth that simply needs to be called for what it is. It is not a reality. This piece of legislation sets up a structure for the underpayment of wages and attempts to put in place an absence of fair wages in the Australian context. We should make no mistake that this bill absolutely represents a race to the bottom for workers' rights and employment standards in this country. The bill clearly wants to keep unions away from the bargaining table, going as far as undermining a worker's right to organise and be represented by a union. The bill wants to do away with penalty rates, which will have a devastating effect on regional and rural economies. It will certainly erase any discretionary spending from the equation when it comes to the family budget. The bill further promotes casualisation of the workforce, and the knock-on effects of that for job security and even workplace safety, as we heard in evidence provided by nurses at the Fair Work Taskforce hearing in Gosford in recent weeks, would be very significant. One of the things that have happened in the interim, between the last time parliament sat and our return today, was a very important hearing of the Senate Education and Employment References Committee, chaired ably by my colleague Senator Lines, who is here in the chamber at this minute. S
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