Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to take note of answers made during question time today by Ministers Watt and Farrell. It is very, very clear, colleagues, that the old saying is true: leopards do not change their spots. It has taken very little time—in fact, less than six months—for it to become crystal clear to the Australian public why Labor was in opposition for nearly a decade. It is so clear that they have not yet learnt. Just as they have done before in government, they are taking both our workplace relations system and our economy backwards at the same time. They simply cannot be trusted, not only on their word but on their ability to manage our nation through challenging times.

What have we already seen in less than six months under a Labor government? We have an economy with high inflation, we have high interest rates, we've got a rising cost of living and Labor has had to admit that electricity prices under their policies will go up 56 per cent and gas up 44 per cent, together putting unsustainable cost-of-living pressures on everyday Australians. They talk a lot about solutions, but they have done absolutely nothing this year in a policy sense to change any of that.

And now the Albanese government's reckless attempts to change industrial relations laws will hit every single sector of our economy and, in particular, every single small business in our nation, who are the absolute backbone of our economy. They are going to be hit the hardest. Shame on Labor for that. The cost of bargaining under the Albanese government's radical shakeup of the industrial relations system was revealed at just under $15,000 for a small business and $75,000 for a medium-sized business. How on earth is any small business going to find another $15,000 just to comply with what Labor are imposing on them? Most of them will no doubt not be able to afford it.

Let's have a look at the impact of this in my own home state of Western Australia. The West Australian has reported that small businesses across WA could, if not will, be pushed to the brink if Labor's one-size-fits-all industrial relations omnibus bill is rammed through the federal parliament this and next week. That is very clear. What does our own Premier, the Premier of Western Australia, a Labor Premier, say about this? Is he backing small businesses? Is he backing Western Australian families? Is he backing employers who are already doing it tough? Nope, of course he is not backing any one of those groups in Western Australia. In fact, he says that what we're saying about all of these pressures is just scaremongering. I tell you what, if he was a small-business man who had to put his hand in his pocket, with all of the other cost-of-living and cost-of-doing-business expenses, to find another $15,000 to comply with this, he would not see it as scaremongering, because it is the truth.

A poll taken by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia is the first in the country to reveal the true sentiment of Australian businesses to these reforms. It revealed that more than nine in 10 Western Australian businesses fear impending change to industrial relations laws, and only eight per cent said they were unconcerned by the changes. Thirty-four thousand workplaces would employ fewer staff if they were no longer able to set their own work conditions and had them replaced by the Fair Work Commission. Twelve thousand businesses would employ fewer people if limits on fixed-term contracts were put in place, as is proposed by those opposite. More than four in 10 businesses would scale down operations if forced into multi-employer bargaining or immediate bargaining for a new agreement when the existing one expires. This, more than any of the other destructive elements of their bill, is the most duplicitous, because this was not in the Labor Party policies that they took to the election. They had a workforce summit—and guess what? Surprise, surprise, this popped out of the union's mouths and the Labor Party said, 'Oh, we didn't think of that before the election, but let's implement it and let's destroy our businesses.' Shame on you, Labor.