Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Resources) Share this | Hansard source

Clear! Let's be clear: this Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 2022 is an election promise. It's a secret promise; it's a secret deal with the union movement and a secret deal that Australians didn't know about. Australian employers didn't know about it and this is the greatest breach of trust and faith that could have been delivered to the Australian workforce. Before the election the Treasurer said that multi-employer bargaining was not a part of their agenda—another Labor lie. This is only about delivering for union membership. Union movement membership is down to 14 per cent, because Australian workers say, 'I am not spending my hard-earned dollars on this lack of representation where my money is hived off for donations, for big fat salaries, for union reps'—who end up here. The union reps end up here. I would love to know how many of those sitting on the other side have not been on a salary paid for either by workers, hard-working Australians, or by some other union deal. Show your hands. How many years since you've sweated over a mortgage and paying people yourself? That's what I'd like to ask those on the other side.

This is a pay-off for donations from the unions. Unions do not create jobs. Government doesn't create jobs—except with taxes. Businesses and employers do create jobs. Unions reckon this is about feminized workforces—to get wages moving. If they were serious about this, this would not be the way they'd go.

Multi-employer bargaining is about paying off highly litigious lawfare driven unions, like the mining unions, like the construction unions. This is not about women who are working in retirement homes and cleaning jobs. This is about making big unions fatter. It reflects how out of touch this government is. The talking points are all they know. If you listen to everyone on the other side you'll get rolled out about getting wages moving, about the lack of action. Do they ever talk about how tough it is to take out a mortgage; to sweat over how you're going to take income from people you are earning your income from to pay your workers to secure their future, to secure your customers future, to pay your suppliers? They said nothing about growing jobs and securing the very people who provide jobs.

Medium-sized businesses—not big businesses—are captured by this extreme legislation. What about businesses doing it tough? What about those people? There is no reflection at all for businesses who have been shut down over the last two years; businesses who are stressed to the extreme, who can't find workers, who are working seven days a week, who cry to me when I speak to them about another public holiday being given by the Labor government, who cry to me about how are they going to do the work for their customers who are coming in who they feel so passionately about? How are they going to provide enough work and enough income with their limited workforce to pay the bills, to pay the wages and still be treated like the big end of town? Who's thinking about them? It's not this Albanese government. It is not them.

It is tough. They are low margins. There are higher electricity costs. There are higher fuel costs. Transport costs are crippling businesses. There are higher costs of food. The uncertainty of this legislation will be the last nail in the coffin of so many of those businesses.

I've got letters from small businesses and medium-size businesses across Queensland. Sally says she will have to review staffing to stay below the 20 employee threshold or sell the business. She already pays staff above the award wage. She is heartbroken. After dealing with COVID disruptions, over-regulation and taxation she does not need this as well. She actually names Senator Pocock as the 'Judas of small business'.

Leslie, another small business owner, says, 'Restaurants, cafes and catering businesses were some of the hardest hit venues during the COVID pandemic and now face crippling staff shortages. With the rise in costs and supply chain disruptions now is not the time to punish business owners. Multi-employer bargaining is impractical and alarming. It would introduce uniformity in an industry that is, by its nature, diverse, creative, innovative and constantly changing.' Leslie finishes with, 'Please save the 58,000 restaurants, cafes and catering businesses and their 357,000 employees across Australia.' I don't hear the unions talking about those business owners.