Government – and politics – is about priorities and choices. A choice of which issues are worth fighting for, and which priorities will improve the lives of people in our electorates. Yesterday, Craig Laundy showed exactly where his government’s priorities lie – and they aren’t with Ballarat workers.
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They are with big business, defending their big tax cuts and protecting their big profits.
When we talk about protecting penalty rates, we are actually talking about protecting take home pay – and protecting family budgets. So when Laundy and his government defend businesses scrapping penalty rates, they are attacking the family budget at the expense of protecting business profits.
Penalty rates aren’t a luxury – they are an important part of the budget and represent the sacrifices of people making ends meet.
Laundy might not think a couple of extra dollars an hour on a Sunday is much to lose.
But I know that picking up a time-and a half shift on a weekend or public holiday can make all the difference for a parent when money is tight.
And at a time when inequality is rising and wage growth is at an all-time low, the fight to protect penalty rates is even more important.
Also keep in mind this cut to penalty rates comes on the back of tax handouts to millionaires, and tax cuts for big businesses.
Everyday workers are continually losing out while the Liberals prioritise the big end of town.
The Turnbull government has signed off on about 12,000 workers in Ballarat having their penalty rates for weekend and public holiday work stripped away.
That’s 12,000 workers with less take home pay to spend in shops, restaurants and entertainment venues of Ballarat, as well as saving for a house, an education, or their family’s futures. It’s less money back into the local Ballarat economy.
But Mr Laundy’s out-of-touch attack on Ballarat workers is no surprise - coming from a man who continues to defend handing big business a tax cut.
When it comes to the welfare of working people in Ballarat I’m not taking any advice from a Sydney-sider who doesn’t even bother to visit our region, let alone live in his own electorate.
If the Turnbull government really cared about jobs in our region then they would not have stood by as the auto industry collapsed under their watch and then continually denied our state its fair share of infrastructure funding.
It is not surprising that the minister from Sydney – as is much of this government – ignores the fact that Victoria receives only 9.7 per cent of Commonwealth infrastructure grants despite being home to one in four Australians.
This contrasts with NSW, the home state of Mr Laundy, the Prime Minister and the Treasurer, which receives a massive 45 per cent of federal infrastructure funding.
I make no apology for prioritising the rights of underpaid workers in our community. Labor not only supports the creation of more jobs, but supports the creation of jobs that pay a reasonable wage.
We will continue to fight relentlessly to protect penalty rates, but while the Turnbull government continues to stand alongside big business in cutting the take home pay of workers, then only a federal Labor government will be able to protect workers in our community.