Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

():  Right now, small business in this country is being absolutely smashed. Tasmania has seen a massive increase in small business going under: 64 closed their doors in the first half of 2024-25. That is up 480 per cent from two years ago. Nationally, business failure rose 50 per cent, with insolvency appointments expected to hit 16,000 this year.

The government says it cares, but, when it comes down to it, I don't think it cares less when it comes to small business. Look at how they are stalling on the promise—just a promise—they made to Senator Pocock and me to review the definition of 'small business'. Seriously, we're fighting over that still! Small business is being smothered by red tape, and unfair dismissal laws is one of the worst offenders. Recent data from the Fair Work Commission provides compelling evidence of the scale of the issue. In the 2022-23 financial year, the Fair Work Commission processed more than 34,000 applications related to workplace disputes. Among those were over 13,000 unfair dismissal claims and over 5,000 general protections claims involving dismissal. According to data from the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, an unfair dismissal case typically costs a business over $10,000, with legal costs varying significantly from $5,000 to $20,000.

Even if the small business wins the unfair dismissal case—this is the clincher!—most of the time they may still have to cover their own legal costs. How is that fair? This means that many small businesses will give a disgruntled employee a payout even if they are in the right because they want to avoid the legal costs. That is where this country has gone. If you've got a bad employee, you have to pay them out. That's where we are at. That's the situation in which you have left small business—and people like my office. I have even heard of a case where a worker was busted for doing illegal drugs at work, but the employee put in an unfair dismissal claim, and the small business ended up settling to avoid legal costs. That is damning—absolutely damning!—of this government!

I got my own taste of the unfair dismissal system recently. I had a member of staff who worked hard for the first three months. Then we took them off probation, and what do you know? The person started showing up late for work, 22 times in a matter of weeks—