Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Because big business can put the family company out of business and the big unions love it because they have a more fertile ground in getting union members out of big businesses, because the close relationship that exists between worker and employee in a small business is such that the union movement basically cannot penetrate that market. And so, if I were to run a family bed and breakfast on a Sunday, I would have to pay my staff $10 more than the five-star hotel in the city.

If I were to run a family chicken shop, I would have to pay my staff $8 an hour more than the multinational KFC down the road. How do the union officials over there justify that wage disparity? Why do they not come in here with motions condemning the union deals done with multinationals like KFC? And KFC is not the only one. If I had a family owned hamburger shop, I would have to pay workers $8 an hour more than the multinational McDonald's.