Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Small Business. Will the minister advise the House how union behaviour is impacting on small business, leaving mum and dad small business owners suffering at their expense? What action is being taken to level the playing field and stop corruption within the union movement?

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Flynn for his question. He fights for the more than 14,000 small businesses in his electorate each and every day. He ran his own small businesses and, like all of us on this side of the House, he knows small business creates jobs. He knows small businesses create opportunities, and he wants to back them. But militant unions and the ALP do not. While we try to help small business hire more Australians, Labor and militant unions sell workers down the river. They reduce take-home pay for hardworking families. The Daily Telegraph has told the story of fast-food workers whose weekend pay was cut because of backhanded deals by union bosses in enterprise bargaining agreements. Unlike small business people, who do the right thing, militant unions are rewarding themselves at the expense of the very people they falsely claim to represent, with backhanded deals.

While small business follows the rules, the new ACTU secretary believes unions should not. Unions cry foul that workers' pay will be reduced, but let us not forget the Fair Work Commission was established by Labor. Its commissioners were appointed by Labor and its review was started by Labor. That man sitting opposite said he would abide by its decisions—he said it not once, not twice, but three times. And now Sally McManus will turn a blind eye as militant unions break the law. She said so in her very first interview. That is why we are stamping out dodgy deals and levelling the playing field for small businesses and helping them to grow.

But what about the so-called workers' champion here? What about the member for Maribyrnong? Does he believe that there should be more jobs in small business? Does he believe that the playing field should be level? Does he think that union kickbacks are wrong? Does he agree with Sally McManus that laws are meant to be broken? This man is a handbrake to jobs, and he does not believe in a fair go for small business. All small business owners ask for is a fair go—that is all. That includes small business people such as Frank Michalopoulos, who runs a burger shop in Matraville with his wife and mother in the member for Kingsford Smith's electorate. He said it is hard to grow their business when they have to pay staff more than their competitors on Sundays. 'It is successful, but how successful can it get?' he asks. It is a good question. It is better than the questions that we get asked by those opposite.

But the member for Kingsford Smith and the member for Maribyrnong are not listening to small business; they stopped listening a long time ago. Labor and the unions love to hold small business to ransom, just as they did with owner-driver truckies with the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal. The only ones they now listen to are the militant and thuggish union bosses, who do not respect the rule of law. That is a very sad reflection on the principles they once held near and dear, and it is a very sad reflection on the shonky leader opposite.