Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Hansard source

A highly regarded and highly experienced business person in Australia, she said:

Australians should have safe jobs, well paid jobs and rewarding jobs—

we agree with that—

but the government's radical shake-up of the industrial relations system will not deliver that …

She said:

These changes will create confusion and extra costs for consumers—

that's the $9 billion in wages I just mentioned—

make it harder to hire casual workers and create uncertainty for employing anybody.

Any government that's serious about costs of living would not do this. They should not add costs and complexity at a time when people are struggling to pay their bills.

If you don't believe me today, listen to Tania Constable of the Minerals Council of Australia. You saw her this week on your TV screens. Tania very eloquently said:

The Albanese Governments latest industrial relations legislation changes are some of the most extreme, interventionist workplace changes that have ever been proposed in Australia.

The changes will inflict immense harm to the economy, the weight of which will fall on the shoulders of the most vulnerable Australians who will pay more for groceries, housing, and energy.

I would think that, by now, Australians are sick and tired of paying more and sick and tired of waiting for this Albanese Labor government to deliver cost-of-living relief. It's just not coming. It's getting worse.

I would also like to outline what Andrew McKellar, the ACCI chief executive, said. He said the legislation:

… will be bad for productivity, those wanting to be their own boss—

remember entrepreneurialism: the great dream of Australians to build something worthwhile—

and consumers struggling with the cost-of-living crisis … The only winners in this are union chiefs—

there it is; it's highlighted—

The only loophole this bad legislation is looking to close is that of plummeting union membership—

I couldn't have said it better myself—

This is a continuation of a radical industrial relations agenda, and we are again bracing ourselves for further risky changes to our workplace system.

The government has not made a case for these changes. It has not been able to outline how this legislation will enhance productivity, lift wages, or make it easier to generate more jobs.

I think they're pretty believable quotes from well-respected leaders across our nation. We should listen, and so, too, should the Albanese Labor government and the industrial relations minister. They're pretty scary words for the future of our country. Small and medium business is not a magic pudding. It is not something that the government can put its hands into and rip the guts out of. We on this side will not stand for that. We will not stand for this government ruining, destroying, what Australians have worked their whole life for, for generations. We will not watch you pull it apart and tear it down.

Those on the other side think that small and medium business people are rich and that their money can be accessed and given to others. Well, that is not the case. Australian employers play a crucial role in creating those jobs, and we applaud them for it. The Australian labour market is indeed diverse. It provides various forms of work for people of different circumstances and different needs, and it should be diverse. The Albanese government has no respect for that diversity. They only respect union controlled forms of work.

Under this legislation, a union boss can get a waiver from the Fair Work Commission to give you, as a business owner, 24 hours notice to enter your business if they suspect—not if they have proof, not if they've heard it through a complaint—that you have underpaid anybody on your team. To be able to enter a business on a suspicion is not democratic. It's heading towards socialism, and worse.

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