Cory Bernardi (SA, Australian Conservatives) Share this | Hansard source

No, he wouldn't be a Nat, Senator Williams. It is about the forgotten people who don't have that voice for them anymore. They don't have the budgets to hire lawyers, expensive accountants and lobbyists to patrol the halls of Parliament House. They're the people who don't have an HR department. Their HR department is their kitchen table every Sunday night. They're the people who can't afford to engage or employ a union or pay off a union, effectively, to get better deals for themselves. They're the people who are the forgotten ones in our country. They're the ones who provide the engine room, the growth and the innovation for our economy. They're the ones who employ people. Government and unions, unfortunately, now seem to be putting a roadblock in their way at every single turn. Whether it be about the bureaucracies I mentioned, whether it be about taxation, whether it be about HR impediments or whether it be about unfair advantages that the union has negotiated for big business at the expense of small employees—however you want to do it—small business is up against it all the time.

Unashamedly, I'm a fan of small business. I started in small business, and my family's been involved in it for our entire lives and continues to be involved in it. I know exactly what it's like for people to make a go of it—and make a success, I have to say. But the success doesn't come without a whole bunch of pain along the way. No-one sees the pain except the families involved in it. Sometimes the employees see it. No-one sees the pain except the two people or the one person engaged in it with the stress. People only see the success at the end, but I can assure you nothing is further from the truth.

In conclusion, I will be supporting this—not without reservations, I have to say—because I do like competition. I do like competitive forces and I like markets that are free so that people can compete on a level playing field with innovation.