Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

If I can just clarify my position so that there is no ambiguity with respect to it, last night, from my perspective, Work Choices was killed off by the Senate; today it is a case of burying it. But last night amendments were moved—and that is the subject of this debate now, that these amendments be agreed to—and the fundamental point of difference was in relation to the definition of a small business. The amendment that was agreed to was 24 full-time equivalent employees. In the spirit of compromise, there were further discussions with the government, and I think the opposition knows, the Greens know and Senator Fielding knows that I was absolutely transparent in relation to that.

I do want to pay tribute to the Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon. Julia Gillard, because, whatever her opponents may say about her, she has been a consummate professional in all her dealings with me and my office in this, absolutely straightforward and upfront with me, and I appreciate that. My dealings with the opposition and Michael Keenan have similarly been very constructive.

My position has been that I was concerned about small business being able to get some more time in these difficult times in order to adjust to the government’s proposed position. I understand that the government went to the people on 15 employees and so they have argued the issue of mandate. But, for me, the difficulty has been that times have changed since the election. We now have a much more difficult economic situation and the psychology of small business has been battered by the global financial crisis. We have a situation where small businesses are deeply concerned about hiring people. Even today on talkback radio there were people ringing in saying, ‘We’re going to sack a couple of people to get below the threshold.’ That is foolish, and it is the wrong thing to do, but that is the sort of perception we are dealing with.

Essentially, my position to the government was to have a transitional period of three years of 15 full-time equivalent employees so that we could have that time during this financial crisis for small businesses to adjust. That is my key point of difference, and it is not a criticism of Senator Brown, because he was not aware of the full story. It has never been my position that this much shortened transitional period is acceptable, so I cannot accept that. But can I say that I do wish to look at the positives as well. The government’s decision to establish a specialist information assistance unit for small- and medium-sized enterprises within the Office of the Fair Work Ombudsman is a significant change. It is a good thing in that it will ensure that small businesses can have access to specialist advice where there is a dispute. That is a good thing for small businesses. It is also good that there will be a thorough and transparent review of the system in 2012. I would have preferred that there be an independent person conducting that review.

Nevertheless, the key point of difference is that there ought to have been a longer transition period. We could have done better for small businesses in this country in these difficult times. I am unfortunately in the position that I believe we ought to insist on these amendments because we could have done better for small businesses. But, having said that, it seems the deal has been done. I look forward to us doing the best that we can to give confidence to small businesses to continue to employ as many Australians as possible.