Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I will correct that. The Regulation Impact Statement, the RIS, is what I'm referring to. The costs, though, haven't changed, Member opposite. For a medium-sized business, the cost could be more than $75,000. So businesses out there, the small- to medium-sized businesses, but small ones in particular, really, will be affected by this. They will be forced to pay more anyway because, even if they happen to fall below that threshold, the same sector is being forced to pay more. How do they attract workers when the businesses around them, maybe in the same town, have to pay more for the same workforce? That is what is going it happen if they have 20 electricians. If there is a business in the same town employing two people, how will they attract those same workers and keep them when someone around them has been forced to pay more than they can afford to pay? This is the harsh reality of what is going to happen through the changes that we see. Whether someone is an electrician, or owns a restaurant or a cafe, that's what is ahead. It ignores the great complexities and differences as well between a business in the same field that is in perhaps a small town like Nannup or Augusta and one that is in a major centre or a major city. The relationship between businesses and their employees that will be affected concerns me.

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