Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is a great matter of public concern. As inflation and cost of living skyrockets Australian workers were hoping for a pay rise to keep up. Instead, the Albanese government is using the Jobs and Skills Summit as cover for flooding the country with unsustainable immigration levels. Prime Minister Albanese's immigration flood will increase the number of workers looking for work and that will keep Australian wages down. What a sick joke, the Labor Party increasing immigration to suppress wages as its way of fighting for the workers. Pretending to care about workers is a signature of the Albanese government's approach. Instead of pretence, we need comprehensive reform in this country.

The Fair Work Act, which I am showing you here, is a mammoth, complex, confusing patchwork of red tape that gives small businesses nightmares and leaves workers, like casual workers in Central Queensland and the Hunter, without basic protections and entitlements. Senator Chisolm was correct when he said that everyone knows it is a problem. It certainly is a problem. Instead of this we need simple, effective industrial relations reform that doesn't just benefit the IR club of union bosses, lawyers and multinational companies.

Next, we turn to the Albanese government's key strategy, the government's apparent intention to adopt industrywide bargaining. It will sledgehammer Australian businesses, especially small business, and it will sledgehammer workers. If the Albanese government proceeds with this repackaged pattern bargaining untold damage will be done to our economy. This isn't speculation. This has been done before. It has all happened before.

A 2002 a Productivity Commission inquiry found that just two industrial disputes in the automotive industry the year before cost $630 million in lost production. In today's dollars that is more than $1 billion. It's worth explaining what this damage could mean. Currently, if workers want to go on strike against a particular company, as is their right—like the Qantas baggage handlers' strike happening right now—criteria must be met for the strike to be lawful. That's Qantas baggage handlers striking for benefits from Qantas. In industrywide bargaining the Qantas strike would automatically allow Virgin staff to go on strike, even though their pay, conditions and employer are completely different. Industry bargaining means entire industries can be shut down even if there's only one company treating employees poorly. Imagine one cafe having a strike and that automatically triggering strikes across the hospitality industry, even if cafes are already paying their employees well and treating them fairly.

Paralysing entire industries because of disputes with one employer in that industry is reckless and in the long run will harm workers. It is done as a reward for union bosses donating tens of millions of dollars to Labor's election campaign. In return the Prime Minister gives union bosses more power so they can continue to betray honest union members in deals with multinationals. The Labor Party continues to abandon Australian workers. One Nation will continue to fight for workers and small businesses. (Time expired)