Jamie Briggs (Mayo, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

When our leader was former minister for workplace relations, I think he was part of the government that created two million jobs. We do have a real challenge in Western Australia, in particular, and in other places with the way that these Fair Work laws are operating. What we are seeing is that they are fair for the unions but not all that fair for the Australian economy.

I will touch on some specifics relating to this bill, namely the appropriations of our country and the payments to Fair Work Australia, which is the new Industrial Relations Commission—the new umpire in the system—and how it is interpreting what were always very vague rules in relation to how good faith bargaining would work. The act was written in such a way that it leaves open for interpretation how the good faith bargaining laws will operate.

At the time of the bill, it was very difficult to point explicitly to how these things would work until there were decisions. Now we are seeing decisions. That is the important aspect of the operations of these laws. What we are seeing now is that the good faith bargaining provisions of the Fair Work laws will be the next legislative instrument that the unions will use to get back into every workplace that they possibly can. There was a dispute just yesterday about this. Fair Work Australia lifted the bar on notice requirements. What they have done is made it far easier for unions for walk back into work sites where they are not welcome, create disputes, get themselves back in the picture, increase membership and lift up industrial disputes—which are the bottlenecks that Glenn Stevens identifies are a real risk for Australia’s growth and for interest rates and which will restrict our ability to be part of this golden age of economic opportunity that China and the South East Asian economies are producing.

The Fair Work changes by the government are very much at the heart of the dangers to the Australian economy. Make no mistake: we stand at the edge of a huge opportunity for this country. We are at the beginning of an upswing the likes of which we probably have never seen before if the predicted growth levels for China come true. Our resource sector is doing extraordinarily well, as is our services sector. We have intergenerational challenges and so forth, but we have real opportunity.

These laws will potentially reduce our opportunity to do well out of this. These laws are a clear and present danger for our economy. We have seen that in recent days with the stories in the Australian and in the rulings from Fair Work Australia. They have gone too far. It would be wise of those on the other side who understand the economy better than the Deputy Prime Minister to reel them back in and get back to a fair balance, particularly in relation to industrial disputes.

Two years on and at the beginning of an election campaign, we see an economy that is travelling very well because of the hard work of Australian business and its workers. There are some real dangers because of changes that the government has made. There are some real dangers because of the level of debt that the government has entered into to fund its spending. That is going to create challenges for us into the future which we did not need necessarily to have. There has been misspending; badly focused spending. That has caused some of the great difficulties and challenges that we now face.

Then there is the Henry review of tax, which we have not seen. The government will not let anyone into it. We are waiting with bated breath to see what is in it. We have heard rumours about what may or may not be in it. But those on the other side who have a genuine interest in the mining industry in this country will be very concerned about this potential federal resource rent tax and the implications that it will have. Anyone from the mining industry will tell you that it will stop projects going ahead and stop economy growth and opportunity. It will do so in states like South Australia, which sits at the edge of a golden era of opportunity. If it is recommended I hope that the government sees that it is a bad move. We could know today, but the Treasurer will not let us in on the secret of what is in this review. We wait with bated breath to see what comes out of that.

From our side of politics, this year we will see a very forward-thinking and positive agenda as far as management of the economy goes. I know that our new leader is very focused on the economy and how we can make it better and stronger. We will see some very good plans released in the near future about what the next Liberal government’s approach to managing the economy will be. His record in government was outstanding. He was part of the team that created over two million jobs, real wage increases of 25 per cent and real opportunity for future generations. That is what we need from the government in this country, rather than huge spending, waste and wrong priorities that will put pressure on our budget into the future.

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