Mal Hingston: Liberal candidate says older Australians ‘happy' to work for $10 an hour
A Liberal candidate has come under fire after making comments about piece rates for fruit pickers and hinting at the Coalition's stance on minimum wage cuts during a local forum.
Mal Hingston, candidate for the seat of Braddon, spoke to Tasmanians at a breakfast networking session hosted by Burnie's peak business body on Wednesday last week.
When asked about how to work around 'tight' employee rules and regulations, and its impact on small businesses, Mr Hingston said recent reforms had brought 'unintended consequences'.
'We inadvertently killed off the Grey Nomads … they used to come down here, they'd spend their winters up in Bowen picking mangoes and then they'd come down to Tassie and just plod along,' he said.
'They were happy with ten bucks an hour or whatever it was.
'(It) was a social outing for them and they'd pick some fruit and veggies. They're getting their pensions and they didn't care about the low hourly rate.
'And now they don't want to go fruit picking anymore or they don't want to get employed for fruit picking because they don't want to work that hard to justify minimum wage.'
The current national minimum wage sits at $24.10 per hour, regardless of job or industry.
It was introduced by the Albanese Government on July 1, 2024, which saw a 3.75 per cent hike on minimum and award wages, boosting the pay of almost a quarter of Australians in the workforce.
'We're going to rewind some of the stuff that Albanese's done to a lot of the industrial relations changes and just put things back to the way they were,' Mr Hingston added.
The Liberal candidate is understood to have a portfolio spanning eleven houses, an aircraft and a boat.
The comments have been slammed by Australian Council of Trade Unions Secretary Sally McManus, who believes they reveal the Liberal Party's stance on workplace relations policy.
'The Liberals' Mal Hingston sees nothing wrong in expecting older workers to work for piece rates of $10 an hour. He'd like low wages to come back and confirmed that's what a Dutton Government would try to do if elected,' she said.
'What that would mean, is an expectation that older Australians should be prepared to work for as little as $10 an hour, and to be grateful for the social outing it gives them.
'It means a total lack of government support for minimum wage increases in the upcoming annual wage review, which sets the floor under the wages of all award-reliant workers.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News AU
21 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
Mark Bouris rails against Labor's controversial super, unrealised gains tax; issues alarming message to young Australians
Millionaire and businessman Mark Bouris has cautioned younger Australians to be aware of the dangerous risks posed by Labor's contentious super, unrealised gains tax, stating 'every young person' in the country 'should be worried'. Labor's plan to double the tax rate from 15 to 30 per cent on super accounts over $3 million looks set to pass both houses when parliament resumes in July, with the Greens expected to join with Labor in the Senate to ram the legislation through. However, the plan, which also targets unrealised capital gains has attracted a myriad of critics including top fund managers, leading economists and former Treasury officials who have argued the policy is reckless and unprecedented in nature. Despite Treasurer Jim Chalmers repeatedly claiming the policy will only affect 80,000 Australians or 0.5 per cent of the population, industry magnates have outlined that due to the threshold not being indexed with inflation, millions of young Australians could fall victim to the tax in the coming decades. In the latest episode of his Mentored+ podcast, Mr Bouris outlined that young Australians should be extremely concerned by the tax proposal, and that the super accounts of Australians starting work today would eventually be ransacked as a result. 'The people that are going to be affected by that the most is anyone starting work today, any new young person,' Mr Bouris said. 'So, if you're a young person saying this is great, because the rich people are going to transfer the wealth across to the younger people, you will be transferring it to your kids and it's going to keep going like that forever'. The businessman who is best known for founding Wizard Home Loans, Australia's second largest non-bank mortgage lender also said that older Australians had struggled to amass superannuation savings with a low tax rate, and that the tax hike would only make things harder for younger Australians. 'Every young person in the country should be worried about this, and I'll tell you why: because every old person in the country has experienced building their superannuation up with only 15 per cent tax rate from day 1, for the last 30, 40 years'. 'We've had this, all of us had this fantastic low-tax situation with the money we earn in our super fund,' Mr Bouris said, adding that young people who accumulate more than $3 million worth of assets "will not have the same benefits that everyone else had had'. Former Labor Prime Minister and chief architect of compulsory superannuation Paul Keating is reportedly incensed by the policy, telling industry super executives and union leaders last August the plan was 'unconscionable', and that it would turn superannuation into a low-and middle-income pension scheme. Mr Bouris said the former ALP Prime Minister, who introduced compulsory superannuation in 1992 'must be feeling completely demoralised and probably to some extent betrayed' by the reforms, stating that Mr Keating had long argued for government to refrain from imposing excessive levies on super. 'All (Labor's changes) is going to do is put more strain on government when people retire, because people are not going to retire with enough money because they are going to be paying too much tax," he said. 'So if you're a young person and you're saying, 'Oh, this is great', because you're gonna get rich people to transfer the wealth across to the younger people – uh-uh." From July 12 the majority of Australian workers will have 12 per cent of their wages paid to a superannuation fund, representing a 0.5 per cent increase from the current threshold.
Herald Sun
26 minutes ago
- Herald Sun
Andrew Forrest calls for end to Russian fuel imports
Don't miss out on the headlines from Victoria. Followed categories will be added to My News. 'Australian mums and dads should not be funding Putin's war machine,' Dr Forrest told the Herald Sun after it was revealed the Kremlin had received $1.85bn in taxes from crude oil exports that have, via Indian refineries, ended up in Australian fuel tanks since 2023. Calls have grown for Australia and other Western nations to close a loophole that allows third-party nations such as India, Turkey and China to refine Russian crude feedstock into petroleum and legally export it as a 'substantially transformed' product. Dr Forrest, recently named one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people, said 'we need comprehensive reform of sanctions law to effectively police Russian fossil fuel imports.' 'The fossil fuel economy will always create dependencies on tyrants. The geostrategic need for green fuel independence is now.' Through his Minderoo Foundation, Dr Forrest has provided $20m in emergency aid to Ukraine for those impacted by the war and committed another $765m to post-conflict rebuilding, focusing on green energy and digital infrastructure. The Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations, a peak body for the diaspora, is also calling on major fuel retailers, including BP and Ampol, to prohibit imports from foreign refineries that use Russian crude, in particular the Jamnagar Refinery in India which has exported much of the estimated $3.7bn in fuel to Australia that contains Russian feedstock which generates taxes for autocrat Vladimir Putin. AFUO wants the Albanese government to close the sanctions loophole, mandate transparency on the crude origin of fuel and pursue international co-operation on the issue. The group's chair, Kateryna Argyrou, has also called for consumer labelling to certify 'clean fuel' standards for motorists and other users to provide confidence their purchases are not helping fund Putin's invasion. An Essential Research survey commissioned by AFUO found 60 per cent of Australians back comprehensive import bans on products made from Russian oil and 60 per cent also want petrol retailers to voluntarily commit to only using refineries that refuse Russian crude.
7NEWS
36 minutes ago
- 7NEWS
Powerball jackpot: What happens after you've won the lottery?
It has finally happened. You've won the biggest Powerball jackpot of 2025. So, what happens now? With a whopping $100 million up for grabs on Thursday night, here is a snapshot of what happens when you win a division one prize in the lottery. Staff from The Lott will be on standby to contact any registered division one winner on Thursday night, The Lott spokesperson Matt Hart said. 'So, take your mobile off silent and if you see a call from an 07 number shortly after 8.30pm, pick it up!,' Hart said. 'It could be me with some great news.' However, this is dependent on ticket holders registering their in-store or online entries with The Lott Members Club, and having their contact details up to date. Once you're declared the winner, what comes next? 'We've given you a buzz to let you know you've won division one,' Hart said. 'You've screamed, you've dropped a few expletives and you're thinking of walking out of work for good. Division one winners receive a booklet detailing the answers to frequently asked questions, alongside a giant novelty cheque and winners gift pack. How do winners get their prize? Whether you bought your ticket online or in-store, you'll receive your winnings two weeks after the draw. If your ticket is registered with The Lott, your prize will be sent straight into your online account. If you purchased your ticket in-store, you need to return to the store and return your ticket to claim your prize. 'That's why holding on tight to your paper ticket is a very good idea,' Hart said. 'It could be worth a lot of money.' After returning to the store of purchase, winners must complete a prize claim form. The prize money will then be sent to your nominated bank account. 'It's not by a cheque in the post,' Hart said. 'You don't need a special bank account, even if you're about to get tens of millions dropped into it!' Does The Lott provide financial advice? 'We strongly recommend our winners seek financial advice tailored to their circumstances so they enjoy the benefits of their prize for many years to come,' Hart said. 'However, we do not organise this for winners ourselves. 'When we've spoken to previous big winners, they have echoed this. 'As one said, 'my biggest piece of advice to any big lottery winner is to run, don't walk, to a financial adviser'.' Do you have to pay tax on your winnings? Unlike some other countries, Australians do not have to pay any tax on their lottery prizes. 'However, they could be taxed on earnings they make on the prize,' Hart said. For example, you may have to pay tax on interest earned on your winnings in your bank account. '(This) is why we always recommend financial advice,' Hart said. Who should I tell? This is 'completely up to the winners', Hart said. 'Some couples have told us they haven't even shared the news with their children as they didn't want them to grow up feeling entitled or privileged, while others happily tell their close family and friends.' The Lott's winners pamphlet advises successful entrants to think about what they will say before they tell anyone, and to consider whether they will share any of their prize with them. Previous winners say they were surprised by how their relationships did not change at all. A South Australian division one winner told friends and family because they were concerned about the impacts of keeping a secret that big. 'I thought, 'I'm not going to keep it secret from them, I'm going to tell everyone' because I don't want people to say 'why didn't you tell me?',' they said. 'No one asked me for a thing. Not one person. I find that really refreshing.' How do I avoid spending it all too soon? 'Australian winners seem to be a much more pragmatic bunch than their overseas counterparts,' Hart said. 'They've heard the stories of the UK winners who've blown it all. 'For the vast majority, they want to pay off the house and make the money work for them and their families for many years to come.' Hart has previously said winners made room to achieve dreams like attending the Monaco Grand Prix and skydiving over the Gold Coast. As always, the Lott advises winners to consult financial advisers and professionals to help them make the most out of their prize.
