Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They've started: the digital ID issues. In Queensland, with the digital drivers licence, I've just had R&R Hire Services give me a quick call to tell me about the impact it's having on their business. Of course, digital drivers licences are being copied. It is fraudulent copies. Now, on top of the Labor-inflicted cost-of-living crisis they're struggling with, they have to pay $5.50 to an outside company to get these licences checked to see if they're legitimate—yet another cost. It doesn't sound like much, but they do, on average, 600 a week. That's $33,000 a year extra which they now have to spend out of their bottom line.

For those who have never been in a small business, the challenge is that, once you've paid your rent, electricity and all the other expenses, there's one controllable cost you have left, and that's wages. You control that by rostering people off; you don't give them as many hours. What will happen now is that they'll have to cut back on staff, which will affect their customer service, or they'll have to put their prices up. Either way, it's a lose-lose situation.

The digital ID is a bad idea. It's been a bad idea from the start. Let's get it out of here. If those opposite are going to insist on people using it, the government should have to pay for it. Better still, just bin it altogether.