Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

The net impact of the Labor Party’s job-destroying unfair dismissal laws is that they do cost jobs. Various surveys previously talked about in this place have said they could have an impact on up to 77,000 jobs out there in the community. The evidence now clearly illustrates that small business has embraced our Work Choices changes. Small business has said, ‘Yes, we will take the risk in employing people.’ And the OECD came out and said only a couple of weeks ago that the unfair dismissal laws disadvantaged those who are most vulnerable, particularly women and young people. They were the most disadvantaged by prescriptive labour laws because it made the risk of employing those people far greater for small business. So why do the Labor Party want to reintroduce these laws? It is only because of the pact they have with the trade union movement to let the trade unions back into every workplace and every small business. The trade unions will run the Labor Party if, on a dark day, they get into government. That is not just bad for jobs; that is bad for the Australian economy.

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