AUSTRALIA STILL OPEN

Today marks one year since the Shadow Minister for Workplace Relations Michaelia Cash declared – with characteristic nuance – the Government’s Secure Jobs, Better Pay workplace relations legislation would "close down Australia".

Twelve months on from that prophecy of doom delivered to Sky News' Kieran Gilbert – it turns out that Australia is in fact still open.

Last year Senator Cash also calmly predicted Secure Jobs, Better Pay would send Australia back to both the dark ages and the 1970s, and result in rolling coast to coast strikes.

One year on and Australia hasn’t time travelled back to the dark ages (or the 1970s), and the days lost to industrial action have fallen sharply.

Senator Cash is fond of saying that the devil is always in the detail. So here’s the detail.

Under the Albanese Labor Government:

  • Unemployment is at historic lows

    • 3.6% in the latest ABS Labour Force Figures.

    • There have been 561,500 jobs created since the Albanese Labor Government was elected.

      • The most jobs created in the first term of any government on record (and we’re only halfway through the term).

    • Under the previous government the average unemployment rate was 5.6%.

  • Wages are moving again after a decade of stagnation

    • The latest Wage Price Index under this Government was 3.6%

    • Under the previous government – wages growth never had a ‘3’ in front of it.

    • Under the previous Liberal-National government it averaged 2.1%.

  • Industrial action is down

    • In the latest quarter under this Government there were just 10,200 days lost.

    • In the last quarter of the previous government 128,100 days were lost to industrial action.

  • The gender pay gap is at the lowest level on record

    • The latest ABS figures have the national gender pay gap at 13%.

    • Under the previous government it hit 18.7%.

The Government passed its Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill to get wages moving again and improve job security for Australian workers.

We did this after a decade where wages were kept deliberately low by the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government.

A year on we’re now hearing the exact same doomsday predictions from Senator Cash and the Liberals and Nationals about our Closing Loopholes Bill.

They were wrong then and they’re wrong now.

The Government’s Closing Loopholes Bill does exactly what it says on the tin. It will close the loopholes undercutting wages, job security and workplace safety.

It will close the loophole that means gig workers have no minimum standards.

It will close the loophole that means casuals have no chance of becoming permanent workers - even when they already work permanent hours and want more job security.

It will close the loophole that means the agreed pay rates in an enterprise agreement can be undercut using labour hire.

It will close the loophole that means it's a criminal offence for a worker to steal from the till - but it's not a criminal offence for an employer to steal from a worker’s wages.

If Senator Cash believes in keeping these loopholes open she should defend them - instead of trying to frighten business owners and workers with more childish Chicken Little scare campaigns.

ENDS

Tony Burke