Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support this motion because, if there is the opportunity for the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Small Business Redundancy Exemption) Bill 2023 to be debated, voted on and supported, we could immediately be providing protections for workers with respect to small-business redundancy, so that large employers could not downsize to the small-business threshold of below 15 employees. Without doing that, we are not providing that protection, so really there is a sense of urgency.

This is about whether we want to do the right thing collectively with what is before us right now or whether we accept the government's position that the bill be in their name entirely, on the assumption that the legislation as a whole that's currently in the other place, is supported. Who knows? We actually could be in a position where that bill in the other place might not be supported and these protections might never be provided. That's what we have to think about at the moment—not about political game playing and who wins, but about exactly what is before us and the merit of what is before us. That is why I support this motion.

I think it is important for the government—and incumbent on them—to actually put the needs of these workers first, before their political game playing and before what they see as this whole situation not unfolding according to the political plans they perhaps had. So I'd like all of us in this chamber to consider supporting this motion. Let's debate this now. Let's put the people of Australia first, including the people who would be affected by this redundancy measure and the people who are already being affected by this redundancy measure. Let's think of them and put their protections before the politics of this place.

We can do better. I would urge the government to reconsider their position and to support this motion. Let's urgently debate this piece of legislation that has come down from the other place, because it is a matter of urgency. We have four bills before us today. Each of them include measures that are not contentious and are broadly supported right across the parliament. Let's do the right thing, let's do the commonsense thing and let's all come together for the people of Australia ahead of political pointscoring and political game playing.

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