Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen ‘talks down’ receptionists and checkout operators in debate
Chris Bowen has been accused of “denigrating” receptionists and checkout operators by cherry-picking childcare workers to be in line for a government-mandated pay rise.
NSW
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Chris Bowen has been accused of “denigrating” receptionists and checkout operators by cherry-picking childcare workers to be in line for a government-mandated pay rise.
In the crucial pre-election Treasurers’ debate, Mr Bowen turned to talking down other female-dominated industries as he tried to defend Labor’s plans to boost childcare wages by up to 20 per cent with a subsidy.
When pressed by Josh Frydenberg on the policy, Mr Bowen retorted: “What’s Josh’s solution? We’re going to keep paying our early childhood educators less than we pay receptionists and checkout operators?
“With all due respect to them, who work very hard, we can’t continue to pay so poorly those with whom we entrust out youngest and those for whom we ask them to nurture their brains for their development.”
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Labor has pledged to grow the average total wages of early childhood educators by about $11,300 over an eight-year period at a cost of $537 million in the first four years.
The bill is estimated to be close to $10 billion over a decade.
There are 195,000 childcare workers who earn an average annual wage of about $53,000. Their minimum wage is lower, at about $38,251 a year.
The minimum wage for a receptionist is $39,764 per year and for a retail worker $41,075.
The government yesterday seized on Mr Bowen’s remarks, accusing him of “picking winners”.
“The Labor Party are picking winners and at the same time denigrating the contribution or hard work of others,” Coalition campaign spokesman Simon Birmingham said.
“We have an independent umpire to decide award wages for good reason. Politicians shouldn’t be going around deciding what workers are worth less than others or implying the hard work of some isn’t also a valuable contribution to society.”
Mr Frydenberg also challenged Mr Bowen by asking whether all of the 195,000 childcare workers in the country would get the pay rise. The ALP Shadow Treasurer said the policy had been “carefully designed, costed with the Parliamentary Budget Office”.
Labor has not said how many childcare workers will get the pay rise, but Mr Bowen said that, as a country, Australia had required they lift their level of qualifications and “paid them no extra to do so”.
“It’s a big call for the government … (but) it’s the right call,” he said.
Mr Frydenberg responded that the last time Labor tried to spend $300 million to boost childcare wages — in the Rudd-Gillard years — an independent PwC report said “the policy was about boosting union membership”.
“That is the real story here. Taxpayers across the country having to fork out $10 billion to boost union membership while aged care workers and disability support workers miss out,” Mr Frydenberg said.
Labor leader Bill Shorten has already come under fire this election campaign after seeming to leave the door open to extend his wages subsidy to other sectors, saying “we have picked childcare workers to go first”.
Labor Workplace Relations spokesman Brendan O’Connor clarified the position the next day, saying there were “no plans” to extend the model.
Belle Property Surry Hills receptionist Vicki Papadopoulos, 27, said if childcare workers do get a pay rise “that’s excellent for them”, but she added that “receptionists don’t just push paper” around.
“At the end of the day everyone does important work. Childcare workers obviously are looking after children, but they’re doing as much as I guess we are in our industry,” she said.
“I know how hard admin people work, so as far as running a business, if you don’t have any good administrators in the business or any good admin staff your business will fail.”
Ms Papadopoulos — who earns about $60,000- $65,000 a year plus incentives — said it was easy to overlook how much big companies such as law firms relied on receptionists.
“If I was working in the childcare industry I would be fighting for better pay, you’re looking after people’s kids, it’s not something that you can just walk in and do, but then in all fairness massive lawyer offices, solicitors — they all feed off their admin staff. If they don’t have good admin staff to feed their paperwork to them they don’t have a job,” she said.
‘NUTTERS’ CALL PUTS KEATING ON OUTER
Senior Labor figures have distanced themselves from Paul Keating’s attack on Australia’s security agencies after the former prime minister labelled the country’s spy chiefs as “nutters”.
After he was feted at the official ALP campaign launch, the party luminary, who led the country between 1991 and 1996, raised eyebrows on Sunday when he declared Bill Shorten would sack spy chiefs who had damaged relations with China, saying he would “clean them out”.
“When the security agencies are running foreign policy, the nutters are in charge,” Mr Keating told the ABC.
But Mr Shorten on Monday promised he would not be wielding the axe.
“For myself and my Opposition team, we’ve worked very well with the national security agencies,” the Labor leader said. “They know that and we know that. We, of course, will continue to take the professional advice of people who keep Australians safe.”
Charles Sturt University professor of public ethics Clive Hamilton said Mr Keating had been given “lucrative” positions with Chinese businesses.
“For well over a decade, Beijing has been working hard at winning over powerful members of Australia’s political, business and university elites,” Prof Hamilton said.
“They have agencies whose sole task is to do just that, and they are very good at it. Beijing appointed Mr Keating to a lucrative position on the international advisory board of the China Development Bank, and he gets the royal treatment when he’s in China. Since then he has been a reliable champion of the Communist Party government.”
Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said she fully supported Australia’s spies but would also move to “deepen” relations with China. “We have utmost confidence in their leadership, capacities and expertise to advise on issues related to our national interests,” she said.
“Labor recognises that the bilateral relationship with China is one that is positive for both countries, notwithstanding our different political systems.”
Labor’s deputy leader Tanya Plibersek said there would “absolutely not” be a full-scale clean-out under a Shorten government.
She said Mr Keating did not run Labor policy, noting the Opposition valued regular briefings it receives from agencies.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for Mr Shorten to denounce Mr Keating’s comments, saying the agencies had prevented 15 terrorist attacks in Australia.
“For what the Labor Party calls a Labor legend to go out there and attack the credibility of our security agencies that have been saving lives in this country, I think is very disappointing,” Mr Morrison said.
“I think that should be disowned and I think the leader of the Labor Party, Bill Shorten, should be having something to say about that in denouncing what Paul Keating had to say.”
He also demanded Mr Shorten come clean about who would be home affairs minister in his government.
— Jack Houghton
CANDIDATE ATTACKED AT VOTING BOOTH
A Liberal candidate was allegedly assaulted while campaigning in Sydney’s inner west yesterday, with how-to-vote cards ripped from her hands by a man at a pre-poll voting booth.
Dr Fiona Martin, the Liberal candidate for the marginal seat of Reid, was involved in two separate incidents while campaigning at a centre in Ashfield.
During the first incident, Ms Martin was holding a corflute about 1pm when a man allegedly ripped it from her hand and pulled at her wrists.
Ms Martin was then involved in another incident while attempting to hand out how-to-vote cards at the same booth, when another man pulled the cards out of her hands. The mother-of-four said that police were investigating the incidents.
“It’s not a boxing ring. It’s not a place for physical bullying,” she told 7 News last night. “I just think in 2019 we should feel safe whether we’re male or female to be at a pre-polling booth and not have our space physically violated.”
— Mitchell Van Homrigh
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