Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

Well, I would like to know what consultation you've had with the National Farmers Federation about the impact of the legislation being passed today on their ability to employ people, because they are very clear that it will be incredibly negative. They say:

Instead it—

the government—

is choosing a path that will drive up the costs to engage employees and create a system people will walk away from.

…   …   …

They say:

That's going to be the lived experience of farmers across the country through the passing of Labor's industrial relations bill. I grew up in a small business, where we lived at the dairy. You are now allowing union thugs—John Setka and his mates—to be able to walk into your home and check out whether it meets their exceptional standards. It is an absolute joke. It's not just farmers but a whole lot of Australians who live where they work, and the Labor Party don't believe that union officials should be required to hold an entry permit under the Fair Work Act. This bill shows no respect for the tens of thousands of business operators who expect the protection of the law before union heavies can enter their home.

The government have no agenda for relieving the cost-of-living crisis affecting Australians. That's why they've made a cumulative number of decisions that make things worse for Australians, not better. They've introduced a ban on live sheep exports. They've stripped water out of farming communities, which will provide no greater assurance for the environment. They've increased truckie taxes. They've put a fresh food tax on farmers. They've scrapped the agriculture visas and changed the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme to make it unworkable for primary production. They've been too slow to act on fire ants. They've taxed superannuation. They can't even tell us what impact that will have on primary producers in unrealised gains. They've abolished the Roads of Strategic Importance, which were actually all about road safety and the freight task, and they've cut funding for regional roads. That is why yesterday Labor premiers were furious about the future investment of the Albanese Labor government in the regions.

They've forced up the cost of finance to everyday Australians through their inflationary decision-making and they've actually increased taxes. Their industrial relations changes will create more complexity and uncertainty, add more cost to small businesses and farmers, make Australians pay more, do nothing to increase productivity and actually will put jobs at risk. They're only interested in rewarding their Labor union pay masters, and they're actually going to institutionalise conflict in our workplaces and hurt our economy. This is just insane. On the last sitting day before Christmas the only people that are happy with what's in their Christmas stocking from the Senate today are the ACTU, Sally McManus and all of their Labor mates.