Last week we explained how the Albanese government’s Loophole Bill will trash the incomes of casuals. That’s a pretty big claim on our part, particularly when we calculate the actual amounts that casuals can/will lose. That is, that casuals on:
- minimum pay will lose up to $3,062 a year;
- average pay will lose up to $5,354 a year.
But we don’t make such claims without proper analysis and facts.
In my Substack post on this we provide the analysis (8-minute read). And we include the full details of the wording of the relevant section in the Loophole Bill in our briefing paper to the Senate independents. This shows that the Bill effectively outlaws casual employment. This is how so many people (2.7 million of them) will have their incomes trashed.
You’d think that this is a very strange thing for a Labor government to do. Labor always says that it looks after low-income people, but this Bill clearly does the reverse. Why would they do this? Well, that’s for them to explain.
But Australian business columnist Robert Gottliebsen (23 October) has commented that the Loophole Bill:
“…is really a multitude of different actions, so people keep discovering new horrors as they study the pages, particularly the nasties hidden in the 500-page explanatory memorandum.”
Robert explains how the Bill attacks casuals’ incomes:
“Step one is to virtually abolish casual work by making the definition so complex that no one can risk employing a casual because the fines for paying people extra via the casual employment classification can be up to $93,000. Accordingly the casual labour “loophole” is closed.”
“Most existing casuals will need to transfer to full-time employment, or, more likely, part-time employee status. That means 2.7 million will receive a lower income.”
He says,
“There will be a riot when 2.7 million casuals discover they are a “loophole” and must have their cash pay cut.”
The issue is so huge Robert believes that if the Bill passes the Senate,
“…Peter Dutton is highly likely to become the next prime minister.”
After the massive rejection of Albanese and Labor’s attempt at the Voice, put this Loophole Bill on top—and anything could happen!!