Wages

Working families rely on wages to cover the mortgage or the rent, put meals on the table, and pay for their kids' education. None of that gets easier if wages stand still.

Wages don't rise on their own – it usually takes a vote in parliament to make it happen. In 2023, parliament voted to make it a criminal offence for an employer to knowingly underpay a worker. Malcolm Roberts, a sitting One Nation senator, voted no.

We were surprised, so we checked the record. Turns out that's not a one-off position. Over two decades, Pauline Hanson, Roberts, Barnaby Joyce and, more recently, Tyron Whitten have voted against or sought to weaken law after law built to raise wages, protect penalty rates, or stop pay being undercut.

• 2025 – when parliament moved to lock in protections against future cuts to penalty and overtime rates, Hanson, Roberts and Whitten voted to weaken those protections.
• 2023 – Roberts voted no, twice, to the law requiring equal pay for people doing the same job through a labour hire firm. Freight workers went on to pick up as much as $8,000 a year under the change, flight attendants up to $20,000. The same law made it a criminal offence to underpay a worker – Roberts voted no to that too.
• 2022 – Hanson voted against the core of Secure Jobs, Better Pay, the government's own legislation built to get wages moving.
• 2014 – Pauline Hanson: “Get rid of penalty rates, and I'd also say get rid of the 17.5% leave loading.”

Don't just take our word for it. See the full record on wages, with every vote sourced.