Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors, Tourism and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to have this opportunity to make a contribution to the Fair Work (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Bill 2009 and the Fair Work (State Referral and Consequential and Other Amendments) Bill 2009 as part of the cognate debate. It has been instructive to gain some insight into the Australian Labor Party’s approach to industrial relations in modern Australia. It has been instructive because you can contrast the position of modern workplaces against the fossil-like approach of the Australian Labor Party, as wedded as they all are to the trade union movement, and the huge debt that this political wing of the trade union movement owes back to their political masters, Australia’s trade unions.

In this debate we have had speaker after speaker from the Australian Labor Party come into the chamber and talk about the way in which this bill gives effect to Labor’s promise to make workplaces ‘more fair’, to use their words. The member for Moreton just spoke of how this bill will ensure greater equity and greater fairness in the workplace. He ran through a long list of trade union hacks who he needed to thank, who had been out supporting his campaign, running the scare campaign that the trade union ran at the last federal election about the impact of Work Choices laws and the impact of the Howard government’s changes on workplace relations.

But what the Australian Labor Party never talk about is what the impact of its laws will be on Australian workplaces. They never speak about the impact of Labor’s re-regulation of Australia’s industrial landscape to the detriment of employers directly and, indirectly, of employees. That is the great con. That is where the Australian Labor Party really holds itself out as being among the best of the snake oil salesmen that we have seen. There has not been a speaker in this debate thus far, to the best of my knowledge, from the Australian Labor Party who spoke about the impact of this bill on employers.

This is not about just blindly defending employers. It is about recognising the complete and total relationship that exists between employers and employees. The fundamental reality is that, if you drive up business costs, if you re-regulate industrial relations and the marketplace—that is, someone who offers themselves for employment and an employer who takes the risk to employ that person—and especially if you drive up costs for Australia’s 2.4 million small businesses, which employ about 3.8 million Australians, then the logical, most common-sense, most blatant and most obvious outcome will be that small business employers, and employers more generally, will not hire new people and will actually take existing employees off their books. That is what the Labor Party does not want to acknowledge.

The cognate debate before the House today includes amendments to so-called ‘modernise’ Australia’s awards system. This is a beast of the Australian Labor Party, which they cloak in a shroud by saying that this is about modernising workplaces. How modern is it to force up business costs, the costs of labour, by 15 per cent, 20 per cent, 30 per cent, 40 per cent or 50 per cent or, in some instances under the draft modern awards that we have seen so far, by over 250 per cent? How modern is that? How fair is it on those Australians who will be cast from the employment lines onto unemployment queues and forced to go on the dole, because this government, as part of its ideological quest to so-called modernise awards, will actually drive up unemployment by driving small businesses out of business?

The reality is that this proposal by the Australian Labor Party could not come at a worse time. This massive hike in labour costs could not come at a worse time. The Australian Labor Party is forcing massive increases in employment costs onto 2.4 million Australian small businesses, and the consequence of that will be higher unemployment. I plead with the Australian Labor Party to recognise the price that you place on a so-called ‘more equitable’ workplace. Is it truly equitable to drive Australians onto the unemployment lines? Is that true equity? Is that true fairness? Is forcing up business costs by 30 per cent, 40 per cent, 50 per cent, 100 per cent or 200 per cent actually the way to achieve equity and fairness in the Australian workplace? The problem that we have on this side of the chamber is that the Labor Party has a grand cover-all excuse. As the unemployment rate goes up—as I predicted it would as a consequence of changes to unfair dismissal laws—as a consequence of this so-called modern award process, we will see at this stage, as forecast in the budget papers, one million Australians thrown onto the scrap heap of unemployment.

Labor will sit there and say, ‘Well, this is all a consequence of the global recession.’ You see, the Labor Party want Australians to believe that they are victims of unfortunate international economic tumult. The Australian Labor Party want Australians to believe that the reason they are unemployed is something that happened on Wall Street in New York, a slowdown in the Chinese economy or a slowdown in the European Union. That is the only reason that there will be a million people unemployed.

As shadow minister for small business, as I move around this country and speak to hundreds, if not thousands, of small businesses and their advocacy groups, there is one message that I get loud and clear and consistently from those small business men and women. They are scared of this legislation. They are scared of the impact of Labor’s changes and the fact that it will drive up employment costs by 10, 20 or 30 per cent up to, as I said, over 250 per cent in certain instances. They are petrified because these employers have a great relationship with the people they employ. They want to look after them. They recognise that, by providing a job to these people, they are actually helping those people that are in their employ to pay off the mortgage, to put food on the table and to look after their families. They take very seriously the nature of that relationship with their employees because, fundamentally, 99 per cent of small business employers have a great, symbiotic relationship with their staff.

That is why it is so galling when Labor members opposite come into this chamber and say this is all about countering the effects of bad employers. The Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors and the Service Economy himself made a statement on the public record that almost beggars belief. He said the reason that we needed unfair dismissal protections was that an employer might come into the workplace in a bad mood and fire a good employee. What a completely absurd comment—to tar 2.4 million small businesses with that kind of absurd remark really is telling of the approach of the Australian Labor Party.

The reality is: yes, there might be one or two bad eggs in terms of employers and, yes, it will come as no surprise to know there might be one or two bad eggs as employees. But the vast bulk of people have a good, positive relationship in their workplace. They operate as a team. They recognise that each is dependent on the other. It is this fundamental recognition that scares employers and employees alike in Australia’s small business sector. It scares them because, as a direct consequence of the legislation before the House right now, the Australian Labor Party is going to force up business costs and drive employed Australians on to the unemployment lines.

Labor can blame it all on the global financial crisis. Labor can blame it all on the worldwide economic recession. But Australians will realise—I believe sooner rather than later—that the actual reason they have lost their job is that Labor made it uneconomic for them to be employed. That is the real reason modern awards will drive up unemployment. That is the real reason unemployment will hit 8½ per cent—conservatively. That is the real reason why the Australian Labor Party will succeed in getting one million Australians unemployed once again. And that rests around the necks of the Australian Labor Party and the minister responsible for this legislation.

The Labor Party claims to be genuinely so concerned about equity and fairness in the labour force—genuinely so concerned and of the view that their award modernisation process is not going to drive up unemployment. We saw this commitment from the Deputy Prime Minister that, frankly, is not worth the paper it was written on. She uttered that, as part of award modernisation, there was a balance to be achieved—a balance that would not force up labour costs and that would not disadvantage employees. That was the commitment that the Deputy Prime Minister provided. If that commitment were actually worth anything—and we know that it is just a glib case of the Deputy Prime Minister engaging in political spin: ‘I have got a problem with this; I will just throw out a pithy little remark like that and reassure everyone in the most general way that there is not going to be a problem’—then why won’t the Deputy Prime Minister support the amendment that is being sought by the coalition?

In this amendment, the coalition has moved to actually enshrine in legislation this pithy little comment that the Deputy Prime Minister made. We have sought, as part of the amendments that were moved by the shadow minister, Mr Keenan, to ensure that we include relief from increased labour costs under part 4. We have sought to recognise that the Labor Party and the Deputy Prime Minister actually said that there would not be an increase that would disadvantage employers and there would not be a situation arise that would disadvantage employees. So why not include that commitment in the legislation? Why not actually incorporate it so that Australians can be reassured that it is not simply some breath of hot air from the Deputy Prime Minister—some kind of spin strategy to try to provide some glib reassurance to Australians? Incorporate it in the legislation. That way we can all rest assured that there will not, in fact, be an impost on employers.

I reassert that the government should get behind these amendments to ensure that this legislation actually does as the Deputy Prime Minister promised. The government should ensure that award modernisation does not drive up business costs and does not force those people that currently have jobs onto the unemployment scrap heap. That will be the true measure of this legislation—what happens to the unemployment rate and how quickly Australians get jobs again.

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