Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, too, rise to support this important motion, because there are multiple things that we are seeing happening with this motion. We are seeing another step in the so-called party of the worker walking away from Australian workers. That's what they're doing today. They're making a choice. They had a simple choice today and they had a simple choice last week when the Senate passed this bill: would they support Australian workers or would they play politics with Australian workers? We're not sure what those opposite will do, but I think it's fairly safe to say they'll vote against this motion. That will be disappointing because we, on this side, have sat here for 18 months and heard quote after quote from those opposite about how they're the party of workers, they're here to fight for workers and they care about workers.

They have also spoken a lot about how important this bill is and how urgent it is. The Leader of the House himself said:

The people affected have had enough of being told, 'Can we have a delay?' They've had enough of being told, 'Can we just pretend the issue is about something else?' They've had enough of being told, 'Consultation hasn't been good enough,' even though there has been more consultation on this than on any workplace relations bill in years. People have had enough of those excuses …

He also said:

Members on the government benches are ready to have this debate. We're ready to have this argument. We're ready to close the loopholes.

They were direct quotes.

It appears that there was a little asterisk on 'close those loopholes'; there were only some that they were prepared to close straightaway and there were only some that were urgent. If you work in a small business in Australia, your loophole won't be closed but it could be brought forward and debated right now.

Let's understand, importantly, the environment that we're working in. I've been fortunate to work in and with small businesses throughout my career, and those workers are some of the most vulnerable in our country, because small businesses don't have the cash reserves that large multinationals have and that leaves them exposed. And when small businesses go bankrupt or become insolvent, it is the workers that pay that price.

So it's crucial that we do close this gap. That has bipartisan support. But the timing is crucial. As the Manager of Opposition Business said, the timing on supporting workers in small businesses is more important than ever, because we are undergoing a cost-of-living crisis and it is small businesses that are feeling the brunt of that. In fact, insolvencies and bankruptcies are up across the country.

So, while the government want to play politics with this motion and delay to suit their own agenda, the reality is: the delay will cost the Australian people, because businesses will become insolvent in the gap between when this could be passed and when we finally get a resolution on the omnibus bill. More businesses, every day and every week, are becoming insolvent as their costs go up and their sales go down. That's the reality of what we're dealing with, with this delay.

We can get caught up in the politics of an omnibus bill. It's a pretty standard tactic to put four things which are quite reasonable, and which everyone agrees on, together with controversial measures that need to be worked through. What the Senate has done, to its credit, and what Senators Lambie and Pocock have done, to their credit, is to seek to take the politics out of it and to separate this important initiative, to support those that work in small businesses.

It's a choice for this government. The rhetoric that they espouse about being the party of the workers and the importance of this legislation will be tested. The minister's own words will be tested. Are they going to continue to play politics, or are they going to work constructively with the opposition? We all sit here in question time and hear the Prime Minister and those opposite talk about how we're not constructive, we're not prepared to work with them and we say 'no' to everything. We're saying 'yes' today to four very important motions in this bill that this government could support. We will see what they say and what they do. Ultimately, they will be judged by their actions. Those opposite sit there and preach about being the party of workers. If they vote against this, we will see their hypocrisy and we will see a Labor Party that has lost its way and is no longer the party of the workers. They'll continue to use those words, but their actions today will define whether they actually are a party that's prepared to support workers in small businesses, if those small businesses become insolvent or bankrupt—as we're seeing happen more, in this economic cost-of-living crisis, with small business, unfortunately, bearing the brunt of the challenges. Time matters, and it's important that this legislation gets through, to support those workers.

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