Mr BROAD (Mallee) (16:14): I'm trying to work out how the government's unfair cuts, including those cuts to child care and penalty rates, have impacts on marine parks and fishing! It's a very broad scope, and I've got to say that for those fishermen who aren't getting their penalty rates, because they've got their children in child care, it's tragic! It's a great stretch, but it clearly shows that when it comes to the depth of this topic, those opposite have got nothing. They couldn't even fill out their MPI time to talk about the topic. It reminds me a little bit, I've got to say, of: 'promise and not provide, talk and not deliver, deceive, but, worse, disappoint'. That was the example of the opposition when it was formerly in government, when they talked about what is a cut and what isn't a cut. I want to run through this. It reminds me of when I was a good-looking young man and this nice girl was going to come up to me and we were going to go on a date that night. My mate said it was never going to happen. But I was there. I turned up. I had my little rose and I was all psyched up. Do you know what happened? She didn't turn up. I should have known: promise, not provide, talk, don't deliver, deceive, and I was disappointed. That has been the case when it comes to education, particularly. All of the 118 schools in the electorate of Mallee have got more under our government. Every childcare centre is going to be better off in our area. This is the contrast. We have a package here for child care that actually does deliver. It delivers for vulnerable children. There is a child safety net for families earning under $66,000—they are going to get a little bit of extra assistance. For a person earning $60,000 who has a family and child care costs of $100 a day, they will be subsidised to the extent that it is only going to cost them $15 a day. When it comes to looking after children and families, it actually is the National Party that is delivering. There was a lot of criticism of the National Party by the opposition, who said they represent regional Australia. They don't even come out and visit regional Australia. I can't remember when a Labor MP actually visited my part of the world. Ms Stanley: A month ago; I was there! Mr BROAD: On a delegation, and that was a nice experience. I will talk about penalty rates for a moment. There is a very interesting argument going on here about who should determine the rates that an employer pays their employees. We go down a very dangerous pathway when we decide that this chamber is going to make that determination. If I was an employee, I would shudder in my boots at that concept. If I was an employer, I would shudder in my boots at that concept. Of course, people losing some working entitlements in penalty rates was not popular in my patch. It wasn't; let's be honest about it. But what also wasn't popular was shops choosing to shut because they couldn't afford to stay open. Ms Kearney: Shops will shut because people don't have money to spend in them! Mr BROAD: This is a reason you should come out to my patch. On a Sunday afternoon, shops would be shut in tourist towns like Stawell, Mildura and Swan Hill. Do you know who was missing out? It was the person who was working in that shop—they weren't getting a wage, because the shop was shutting. Opposition members interjecting— Mr BROAD: No, the invite is there. Come and have a look and talk to both the workers and the shop owners and you will know. You will find that the shops were shutting. That's just an example of how you have built an ideology, instead of actually coming and having a chat to the people involved. If those shops are choosing to shut because they can't afford to stay open—the takings aren't enough for those shops in those country towns—the worker misses out, the owner of the business misses out, and, ultimately, the town misses out. Ultimately, what I want is profitable shops. I want profitable shops that employ Australians. Ultimately, I think it's a very, very dangerous precedent to go down a pathway where you allow this chamber to pick people's wages. Just think about that for a moment. There is an independent commission. Governments and oppositions can put forward their points of view, but, ultimately, the commission makes the rulings, and their rulings need to be adhered to. I think this MPI is just tokenism. Be very careful of what you wish for, because it would undermine the welfare of workers right across Australia if Labor had their way. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Hogan ): The discussion has concluded.