Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 2022. The bracketed title of 'Secure Jobs, Better Pay' is, of course, completely laughable, as we know that under this legislation jobs will be less secure and real wages will be worse. The problem we have with this government and this legislation is that it was developed by people who never owned a business and, therefore, have no idea how small-business owners think. As someone who has owned small businesses for over 20 years, and mixed with other small-business owners, I can tell you that small-business owners want workers to earn as much as they can. We all want that. People often forget that 90 per cent of small-business owners started as employees, so we understand what it is to be an employee as well.

I spent the first four years of my full-time working life on the minimum wage. The last two of those years were as a new dad. I was the only household income and we got by. I worked hard. I went over and above, doing extra hours and asking for no extra pay—oh my gosh! It was all off my own bat. My sacrifices were rewarded with promotions which came along with higher wages.

In all things there must be balance. Unfortunately, this is often lost on socialist and communist governments around the world. Their misguided ideology to ensure that workers get everything they possibly can unfortunately has no regard—

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