Steve Fielding (Victoria, Family First Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is an important issue. Protected industrial action is that—it is protected. The issue is that other businesses are innocent bystanders. There are very tough financial times at the moment. It means small businesses in particular do not have a lot of buffer sometimes. They can be innocent bystanders. I can see the dilemma that we have here. I appreciate that the minister outlined the changes the government has made. I did not hear much of a rationale for why we should stick with it. I heard the opposition put forward a pretty good rationale for why they should be changed. Obviously we need to look after protected industrial action, but I am not so sure that we should make it easier for those concerns not to be taken into account. I would be happy if the government could put forward an argument rather than going through the changes that they have made.