Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, isn't it interesting? I don't think there's a person—certainly on this side—who doesn't have a concern about how tight it is out there in household budgets at the moment. The reason I say 'on this side' is that we actually understand that there are cost-of-living pressures and that inflation is being felt at kitchen tables around the country, but obviously those on the other side don't know that, because, instead of supporting relief, the coalition keep putting up roadblocks. Instead of having answers, they're aimless. Their only answer is to say no. They say no to the lowering of power prices. We introduced coal and gas price caps, easing the pressure on energy bills. Then those opposite turn around and say no. They said no to energy bill relief. In partnership with states, we are delivering rebates for around five million households and one million small businesses. They've said no to better pay and more secure jobs for Australian workers.

Of course, those on the opposite side want to say this is some sort of class war, but the actual battle, the actual argument, is between good employers who do the right thing and bad employers who are happy to rip people off by not giving them an ethical, fair return on their labour, whether those people be small-business people, owner-drivers, gig workers or employees. Good companies doing the right thing are being unfairly competed with by the companies that are always on the opposite side, always on the side of making sure we make it as tough as we can, rather than lifting all boats.

When you start talking about those who are on the good side of business, you have to talk about people like Peter Anderson, the national secretary of the Australian Road Transport Industrial Organisation, representing small, medium and large businesses across this country in transport. He says about the laws that are proposed, 'Our unity shows how critical it is for the federal parliament to pass reform into law to give all industry participants a fighting chance.' They'll hate this, but Michael Kaine from the Transport Workers Union—the head of the largest small-business organisation in this country—says, 'Life-saving transport reform is the answer, and the federal parliament is being asked by the entire industry to pass it into law.' As small-business representatives, employee representatives and other business representatives are saying, we need laws to change to make our businesses safer, more secure and more viable. But that doesn't fit with the politics on the other side, because they want fights between capital and labour. They want to pretend they're on the capital side when the reality is that lots of good operating businesses want reforms. They want fair reforms. Warren Clark of the National Road Transport Association had some different views some years back but now is one of the leading lights in saying there needs to be reform so that we can bolster and build productivity and enhance safety for everyone. The National Road Freighters Association has taken a very similar position for its owner-drivers, who are providing long distance transport in some of the toughest places to work in across the country.

When you start looking at those people, it just gripes me to think that they say they're so worried about the pressure on households. They said no to 30,000 new social and affordable homes, including for victims of domestic violence. They've said no, more broadly, to better pay and more secure jobs for Australian workers. They've even had Tania Constable, from the Minerals Council of Australia, get up at an inquiry into the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023 and say that they were actually paying labour hire workers more money than they were paying direct hire workers. In fact, she said, it was $300 extra a week. But wait a minute. It was only some weeks ago they were saying it was going to cost the mining industry billions of dollars. On the one hand she is putting to everybody that it's $300 better for those workers. On the other hand it's costing billions of dollars. It does not compute. The fact is, with those on the other side, some of the big business that they back in this country—not the good big business but bad business, in the mining industry—are frightened to turn around and call them out for the prejudice that they've brought to the table in this debate.