Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science) Share this | Hansard source

No, I've gone to Coles to show you it's not just unique to McDonald's. It's Coles. It's Woolworths. It's McDonald's. It's KFC. It is big business combining with big unions, at the expense of low-income earners, to have a superior wage outcome for their own business. The kickbacks that happen for the SDA union are then funnelled back into the Labor Party, amounting to $10 million over the last seven years. This is the hypocrisy, this is the popularity, of those opposite.

The story here is simple. This is the latest in Labor's attacks on business. If you attack business and investment you are ultimately attacking its employees. The question for Australians between now and the next election is: if you are employed, particularly by an SME, in this country and your boss is attacked or doesn't get these cuts or they don't flow through, what might ultimately be at risk in order to cut costs moving forward? Your job. That's what might ultimately be at risk. That should never be the case. You should never attack business, because businesses employ people. The shadow Treasurer understood it in 2013. Sadly, he has put his hands up and capitulated—as have others on the shadow front bench. It's sad, because it goes against everything economic he has written. The original bill should be supported.

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