Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak on a few issues, but it would be remiss of me in beginning if I didn't acknowledge today as budget day. We have just heard an extraordinary budget speech from the Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, delivering what this government has committed to do for the past five years, which is to bring the budget back into surplus to begin to pay down Labor's debt; to deliver jobs; to deliver certainty and growing funding for roads, for health care, for aged care and for families; and to deliver tax cuts, bringing tax cuts forward and delivering even more tax cuts for Australian families and for Australian small businesses. So to the Treasurer and to the Minister for Finance and the Public Service I say: an extraordinarily good job and a wonderful plan for the future of Australia.

I did rise tonight, though, to speak on a few issues of particular interest to me, one of which, which I have risen to speak on before, is the issue of live sheep exports from Western Australia. It is important, as this is an issue of vital, vital importance to the rural industries of WA and also South Australia. It's important to get on the record, in the face of some legitimate community outrage at pictures that were revealed last year, what the industry has done to address those issues.

I have in front of me from RETWA, Rural Export & Trading (WA) Pty Ltd, numbers from the last four voyages that they've undertaken to the Middle East. I'll go through some of the numbers, because they are extraordinary, and all people in this place, and all Australians, should understand just how extraordinary these numbers are. On a voyage with a departure date of 23 December last year, 69,917 sheep were loaded, and there were 211 deaths. On 18 January, 64,548 sheep were loaded, and on that voyage there were 140 deaths. On 5 February this year, 71,160 sheep were loaded, and on that voyage there were 329 deaths. On a voyage beginning on 14 March this year, there were 209 deaths. In all those cases, there were discharge success rates well in excess of 99 per cent and mortality rates well lower than what would be expected on many farming enterprises. These are extraordinary results and demonstrate that the industry is delivering on the important desire in the Australian community to see that animal welfare standards from Australia are maintained at the highest level possible whilst still providing an avenue for export of our livestock.

So that is a credit to the industry. Obviously, it does mean that we need to recognise that more could have been done in the past, so I think it is also a credit to this government that we addressed the issue in a sensible way. We gave the industry an opportunity to address the problems within it, and it has addressed those problems. Now all in this place, and all those in the other place, need to look at the facts, look at what is happening on board those ships and take that into account in any decision they are going to think about making into the future.

I also want to address the issue of wages, particularly the minimum wage, which has come up a number of times in the last few months. I found, in having a look into the issue and researching the issue, a very interesting study in the US, in Seattle. This is an interesting academic study because, in the US, minimum wages are set at a very local level, so you can actually see what happens on the ground. You have a control group because you have very closely comparable areas close by where minimum wages are not increased and relatively small areas where minimum wages are increased. This study in particular looked at Seattle. What this study found was very interesting because it revealed what you would expect if you thought about this issue. I will read a quote from the study itself:

… the Seattle Minimum Wage Ordinance caused hours worked by low-skilled workers … to fall by 9.4%—

during the period of the study—

resulting in a loss of 3.5 million hours worked per calendar quarter.

So, per three months, 3.5 million hours were lost. The study went on to say, 'These results suggest a fundamental rethinking,' in how we need to look at this issue of low-wage work and the issue of changes to the minimum wage and the negative impact that can have on low-wage workers. In fact, the reduction in hours that this study found would have cost average employees $179 per month while the wage increase that caused the loss of those hours only recouped them $54. So you see a net loss of $125 per month for low-wage workers.

Another thing this study found is that—not surprisingly, if you think about this for a little while—businesses changed their behaviour. Businesses such as restaurants employing low-wage workers employed fewer staff and went to technology. Instead of using waiters to serve tables and take people's orders, they bought a few iPads and they allowed for ordering at the counter, so they needed less staff on duty. This is not a surprise, but this is the inevitable outcome of a rush to raise minimum wages in a way that is not conducive to the best outcome for low-wage workers.

Finally tonight, I just want to address an email campaign I, and I'm sure many others in this place, have been receiving, an email campaign on self-managed superannuation funds and, in particular, Labor's attack on self-managed superannuation funds. I say to those people, that email campaign, those self-funded retirees who have worked hard to look after themselves in retirement and are deeply concerned about Labor's policy to double tax dividends: send an email to your members of parliament. That's a great idea. But talk to 10 young people. Go out into the community and talk to 10 young people and tell them exactly how unfair Labour's double taxation on dividend imputation is. That is the way that you will change that very bad policy and, of course, the better way is to make sure that a coalition government is re-elected when the election is called. Thank you.