Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration) Share this | Hansard source

True, sad though it may be. It took until this term before we actually had legislation that said: even if you want them to represent you, it will be illegal. Whom did he choose to take that right from? Independent contractors and small business operators. They are the ones who the Prime Minister decided would lose the right of choice. So they get the Work Choices legislation, they get those amendments in response to the Dawson review I just referred to and they get the Independent Contractors Bill. At every stage they lose rights and they earn less. Families will be in a tougher spot. Businesses will have the impact of this compounded with seven back-to-back interest rate increases compounded with what they are now paying in fuel. This will hurt people. The government knows that that is what will happen and it has not had the courage to be honest about what this bill is actually doing.

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