Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Or we have a breakdown—absolutely! To point out how important it is to keep this stream of employment alive: in the mining industry, mining plant and processing plant are run at somewhere around 110 per cent of their design capacity. Every second that you lose is a cost. It's a cost to the mine, it's a cost to workers who are incentivised on production and it's a cost to the Australian economy in lost tax dollars and revenue—let alone the cost to the customer and all the downside of that as well. And what is often forgotten is the supply side: the local small businesses who provide this work. These are direct costs. When we take away the ability for this, which is what this legislation will do—and this is why I have been so focused on this—it will force companies to hold on to these workers. If they want them, they're going to have to employ them on a full-time basis at a lower rate of pay than they've been experiencing. It will stop them from taking their expertise from mine site to mine site and stop the Australian mining industry from getting ahead.

I know I'm speaking at depth on the mining industry, and I know that's a challenge not everyone can rise to. I'm not being boastful; I'm simply pointing out that this is important to us. It's not something that we've been shortsighted about on this side of the House. We don't claim the winnings and then turn our back on them. This is why we're good at mining—because we've acknowledged this for a long period of time. This is why we're good at it, because we acknowledge that these different types of employment options are required for us to get ahead and that they have been significant contributors to the great Australian mining industry, which we all benefit from. As I like to do when I talk about the industry, I challenge anyone to look around the room they're in and point to anything that hasn't either come out of a mine or been touched by the product of a mine. It's a fun thing, but I'm yet to find someone challenge me on it.

I'll go back to the legislation again. Take the context of its time: we have productivity at an all-time low, with a six per cent drop in 12 months. This is something that we've not seen before. Every step that this government must take should be towards increasing productivity. Every piece of legislation put forward by this government should aim to increase productivity. If it doesn't do so, then it is failing the Australian people. A continued lack of focus on productivity will result in a continued reduction in real wages. That connection is long established; it will continue until kingdom come and I think that is the worst thing that can be said about a piece of legislation—that it will actually hurt workers.

Debate adjourned.

See this speech in context