MATTERS OF URGENCY
Senator SHOEBRIDGE (New South Wales) (17:00): I rise to support Senator Payman's motion, which says pretty simple things that you would have thought that the Labor Party would embrace with both hands—the need for the parliament to expand the criminalisation of wage theft to include the deliberate underpayment of superannuation and to guarantee that Australians under 18 are paid superannuation.
It is pretty remarkable. I've listened carefully to the Albanese Labor government's position in this debate, and it seems to be that firstly they don't like what One Nation says about superannuation. Well, take a ticket.
That's hardly novel. Secondly, they like superannuation. Well, take a ticket.
It's popular in the Australian public. And, thirdly, they've moved to payday superannuation. Thankfully my party, the Greens, supported that move, and that's how it got through this parliament.
But what I failed to hear was: why on earth they haven't supported a Greens' bill that's been repeatedly put on the books and amendments we've moved repeatedly, supported by Senator Payman and by the crossbench, except for One Nation; why Labor has repeatedly opposed giving mandatory superannuation to under-18s; and why they said no, not once but twice, to giving mandatory superannuation to under 18s.
I've listened carefully, and from what I can tell, it's because Labor doesn't like One Nation. Maybe they talk about unintended consequences or about how you've got to do this carefully. Every moment Labor faffs around about not supporting the position of actually ensuring that under-18s got their superannuation, which could go through this parliament in a heartbeat, Coles, Woolies, KFC, McDonald's and Bunnings are literally taking money out of the pockets of 16- and 17-year-old workers and put it in their corporate profits.
That's what happens. Maybe it is that the SDA has got such a comfortable relationship with the big retailers that they don't want to rock the boat. Those members of the ALP who came here with the SDA are actively trying to say: 'Look, we've got this comfortable arrangement.
We get union dues paid out of the wage packets. I don't want to rock that boat and actually make them give our members superannuation.' Is that what it is? There was no explanation given in any of the speeches here today from Labor.
The laws in this country take theft seriously unless it's a corporation doing the theft. Pay packets that come in short are never the pay packets of the CEOs. It's never the pay packets of the HR manager.
It's always the pay packets of the least powerful workers. Those with the least are the ones who get cheated. When it comes to under-18s, it's the ones who are already not even getting an adult wage.
To watch the Albanese Labor government repeatedly wriggle and squirm and do this kind of jellyfish politics to try and prevent laws going through to make sure that those who are the lowest paid—15-, 16- and 17-year-old workers—actually get their superannuation, to watch the Labor Party wriggle and squirm like some kind of jellyfish or squid to avoid voting for something that would actually make sure they get their superannuation, is not edifying.
It's just this government all over. Is it just because the idea hasn't generated from the government benches? Is that why they're against it?
Well, tell that to that young worker at Rebel Sport or Sushi Bay. Tell them why you've decided that they don't deserve to get superannuation. It is obviously true that parliament should extend the criminal wage theft framework to cover deliberate superannuation mispayment.
It's also obviously true that young workers absolutely deserve their superannuation. I say again that, by continuing to resist this, what is the Albanese Labor government doing? It's taking money out of the pockets of that young worker working in a fast-food outlet and giving it to their corporate mates who fund the Labor Party in the first place.
(Time expired)