Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, I know it's hard to believe, but I can. I can remember the impact it had on small businesses, particularly in rural and regional Australia. I can remember the impact of the industrial disputation on the ports of Western Australia and particularly on the farming industry, including on our family farm. This was a time when industrial disputation saw businesses driven out of business. It saw rates of unemployment that we never want to see in this country again.

I'll remind everybody that this government inherited from the coalition an extraordinarily low unemployment rate and a growing economy, and every job that is lost under your watch will be a badge of shame. That, in the end, is what this legislation will do. It will drive up unemployment. It will make businesses uncertain about hiring new people. It will worsen the state of the economy. And you know that you aren't going to be delivering any real wage rises, because you haven't got inflation under control.