3 August 2019

Scott Morrison: “[T]he harder (people) work, the more they earn, the more they keep of what they earn.” Emma Dawson: “This is, of course, absolute, unmitigated nonsense. … That the prime minister of Australia believes that high-income earners work harder than the ordinary Australians who do the essential, undervalued work that keeps society together exposes a deep class prejudice… The average salary of an aged care worker in Australia is just $40,605. They are minimum wage earners, and their tax cut from Morrison’s package will be less than $400. Apparently, they don’t deserve any more, because they don’t work hard enough. This isn’t a slip of the tongue by the PM; it reflects the values of the government he leads. … The immense social value of the work done by those who care for our elderly loved ones, who teach our kids, who nurse us when we are sick, who keep us safe and pick up the pieces when we are hurt, is discounted in the government’s world view, where material wealth is the only measure of a person’s value. … [T]he only thing that this government believes deserving of reward, is making lots and lots of money — and keeping as much of it as you can to yourself.“