Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Williams for his question. I know his dedication to ensuring that owner-drivers are kept on the road. There is a clear difference, as we move toward the federal election, between those opposite and those on this side: the Turnbull government. We are committed to ensuring that the 30,000 owner-drivers across Australia, the mums and dads of Australia who mortgage their homes to buy a truck, to be small business owners, are kept on the road. On the other side, they are led by Mr Shorten, who has now told all of Australia that if he is elected as Prime Minister, he will 'lead like a unionist'. That does not bode well for Australians.

They have confirmed that if they are elected, one of the first things they will do is decimate the owner-driver industry in Australia. This is despite the thousands of owner-drivers over the last few weeks and months rallying around Australia and pleading not just with those of us on this side of the chamber but with all parliamentarians to do the right thing by them, to back them, to back their families, to back them as small business people and do what we should be doing as parliamentarians—that is, ensure that they have jobs. It is thanks to those on this side of the parliament, working with the crossbench, that we were able to abolish Labor's Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal.

What will happen if those on the other side are elected? Mr Shorten has made it very clear he is beholden to Tony Sheldon of the Transport Workers Union; little wonder why—$8.3 million in donations over the years to the Labor Party. If they are elected, they will decimate owner-drivers in Australia.