Speech on Child Labour
- Submitted by: ropeypotato
- Views: 182
- Category: English: Creative Writing
- Date Submitted: 07/19/2015 01:42 AM
- Pages: 3
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Good afternoon everyone
Before I start I’d like you to think about a life where the only way you could keep a roof over your family was working 7 days a week, 8-10 hours a day of hard labour in jobs such as a trade, construction or even working in retail, just to keep you and your family healthy. This is what we may face if penalty rates are to be abolished.
As a university student I am constantly under stress with my financial expenses and on top of my fees and the rising cost of living I’m almost forced to live out on the streets. If it wasn’t for my part time job at Ritchies and having to stay back every night to scrub the floors to earn some extra cash, I would be a homeless man. I am not the only person in this situation and many more would be in strife if the cuts were to be made. My father was a ‘tradie’, a single parent of 2 boys, he worked day and night to keep us in school, to give us a proper education. Imagine if you had to do this…, hardly seeing your kids on a daily basis, having to drop them off at a friend’s house or relative as you were forced to labour away to ensure the future of your kids. This is not uncommon and the problem will only get worse if penalty rates were cut.
Furthermore, I would like to take a look at the minimum wage set by the Australian government. We are in the 21st century and with the constant increase in the cost of living, it is impossible for an average human being to live of these set wages, if anything our wages should increase, not decrease. Statistics now show that the percentage of Australians earning a minimum wage has increased a whopping 34%!!!! You know what that tells me? It tells me that businesses are using this system to earn more money for themselves, having younger kids slave to ensure they have a larger profit margin at the end of the day. After all, all they care about is making money. Some may argue that Australia’s minimum wage is higher than that of other countries, however the Productivity...
Before I start I’d like you to think about a life where the only way you could keep a roof over your family was working 7 days a week, 8-10 hours a day of hard labour in jobs such as a trade, construction or even working in retail, just to keep you and your family healthy. This is what we may face if penalty rates are to be abolished.
As a university student I am constantly under stress with my financial expenses and on top of my fees and the rising cost of living I’m almost forced to live out on the streets. If it wasn’t for my part time job at Ritchies and having to stay back every night to scrub the floors to earn some extra cash, I would be a homeless man. I am not the only person in this situation and many more would be in strife if the cuts were to be made. My father was a ‘tradie’, a single parent of 2 boys, he worked day and night to keep us in school, to give us a proper education. Imagine if you had to do this…, hardly seeing your kids on a daily basis, having to drop them off at a friend’s house or relative as you were forced to labour away to ensure the future of your kids. This is not uncommon and the problem will only get worse if penalty rates were cut.
Furthermore, I would like to take a look at the minimum wage set by the Australian government. We are in the 21st century and with the constant increase in the cost of living, it is impossible for an average human being to live of these set wages, if anything our wages should increase, not decrease. Statistics now show that the percentage of Australians earning a minimum wage has increased a whopping 34%!!!! You know what that tells me? It tells me that businesses are using this system to earn more money for themselves, having younger kids slave to ensure they have a larger profit margin at the end of the day. After all, all they care about is making money. Some may argue that Australia’s minimum wage is higher than that of other countries, however the Productivity...