Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by opposition senators today.

I will traverse a number of answers that were provided during question time, and I'm very mindful of the fact that my very good friend Senator Brockman is going to be making a contribution to this debate. I did appreciate the questions he asked with respect to the live export industry in his good state of Western Australia.

There's one point I want to allude to in relation to the response of the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry to the question from my good friend. The minister for agriculture said, 'It was a Labor Party election policy to abolish the live export trade.' But who voted for that policy at the last election? The communities most directly impacted by that decision did not vote for that policy change. The communities who are going to suffer the economic disadvantage arising from that decision did not vote for that policy change. It's their jobs, their small businesses, their communities and their farmers who are going to be impacted by that policy change, and they did not vote for the Australian Labor Party. Once again we're seeing the government apply policy outcomes to communities who did not vote in favour of those policy outcomes—on the contrary, they voted for this side of politics, who represented something else. That should be noted in relation to the minister for agriculture's response.

Senator Gallagher responded to a few questions from my good friend Senator Hume in relation to the figures that were released by the ABS today on gross domestic product and related matters. It was staggering that the finance minister of this country was unable to answer a question about the national figures released today in relation to productivity. The finance minister was asked a direct question on what the national figures released today said about productivity and was unable to answer it. For those in the gallery, and for those listening at home, there are only about 10 of those national figures, so it shouldn't take long to get your head around them. But the finance minister was unable to provide a direct answer to the question of what the productivity figure was in the national accounts released today, so I'll tell you.

Productivity went backwards. That's a major issue in terms of this country and this nation. Productivity has gone backwards: minus 3.6 per cent for the year and minus two per cent for the last quarter. Australians are producing less, in terms of goods and services, for the same cost. We're going backwards. That has a direct correlation with our standard of living, and you can see that in another figure from the national accounts that was released today: real net national disposable income. Treasury—not Senator Scarr, Treasury—says that this is the best figure to determine what is happening for the average Australian working family out there in the community. Real net national disposable income is how much income the average family has, to buy goods and services or to save. What's happened to that figure under the Albanese Labor government? Again, it's gone backwards: minus 1.4 per cent for the quarter. From an economic perspective, Australians are going backwards under this Labor government.

Senator Gallagher also referred to the fact that this side of the chamber is opposing Labor's extreme, draconian industrial relations agenda. Yes, we are, but it's not just people sitting on this side of the chamber. Let me quote the chair of the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia, Matthew Addison. This is what small businesses—the biggest employer in our country—say about Labor's IR agenda:

Small businesses reject the proposed legislation.

They say:

The cost to implement any changes, the cost of advice, the loss of productivity and workforce flexibility are challenged by these changes.

They also make the point:

Small businesses will need to spend time and invest money in obtaining advice to ensure they are not captured if these changes were to become law. This comes at a time when 43% of small businesses in Australia are not profitable.