James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

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

I'm going to begin with the question asked by Senator Hume in relation to gas policy, gas prices and energy prices. We shouldn't forget, and it's hard to forget, that the Labor Party promised 97 times—that is, 97 times—before the election—

Ross Cadell (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How many?

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ninety-seven times, Senator Cadell, they promised they would cut power bills by $275. It was one of those core promises of the Labor Party. They were going to cut power bills by $275. Ninety-seven times they said that. Yet we find in the budget papers—it was in very small font; I think it was font size eight or nine—that actually power prices under the Labor Party are going to go up by 56 per cent. That's not 15.6 per cent or 5.6 per cent or 0.56 per cent; that is 56 per cent. We have in power a Labor Party that promised to cut power bills by $275. Instead, through Labor's policy inaction and through the decisions they are making—so it's an axis where any decisions they do make are going to be the wrong decisions and the decisions they don't make are also going to be the wrong decisions—we're going to end up with power bills going up by 56 per cent. Indeed, the average Australian family are going to be $2,000 worse off by Christmas because of the policies of the Labor Party.

Labor are always going to cost you more. They're going to cost you more in your power bills. They're going to cost you more in your interest rates. They're going to cost you more when your rent goes up. They're going to cost you more when unemployment goes up—it is going up at the moment under the policies of the Labor Party. What we're seeing with the Labor Party and their radical and extreme industrial relations policies—

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Radical?

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Wong is laughing, but the Labor Party have got radical and extreme industrial relation policies that are so anti small business. I stand here as a senator for Queensland and a strong and proud proponent of small businesses across all of Queensland. When I left home about a week ago, I was chatting to—I probably won't name them, because I don't want the Labor Party and the unions picking on them—some of the people I buy stuff from in Warwick, and they are terrified about the radical and extreme industrial relations policies that are going to come down. They don't want to get caught up in this vortex of the Labor Party paying back their union paymasters. That's what we're seeing with these radical and extreme industrial relations policies. So not only do the poor, poor Australian people have Mr Albanese as Prime Minister—heaven help all of us!—but they've got a 56 per cent rise in power bills and they've got radical industrial relations policies.

When you look into what the government is doing or not doing in relation to gas, you should be very scared. In its recent budget, the government not only reduced support for gas exploration and ensuring that we have reliable energy across Australia but gave $10 million to the Environmental Defenders Office—$10 million to the radical, extreme Environmental Defenders Office. Effectively, the Labor Party are funding extreme left-wing greenies to stop the progress of commerce, business and resource development in Australia. So, if you're wondering in about a year's time or two years time why your power bills have gone up so much, it is because of the policies of the Labor Party—the policies that the ministers today could not answer questions on in relation to what is going to happen, whether it's to your power bills or how much your pay may go up. We all want Australians' pay to go up, but the minister was asked a direct question today about how much people's pay will go up under the Labor Party, and all we got was a bunch of waffle. It was a lot of waffle. And it was not like the waffle that you can get and eat when it comes out of a jaffle iron; it was the waffle that just causes you to lose the will to live when listening to those answers. It is very, very sad that the Australian people will have higher power bills and actually will not get the pay rises they deserve because of the policy inaction of the Labor Party.

Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What a load of waffle that was, from the best waffler in this place, I must say! That was just absolutely ridiculous. Honestly, during question time we heard the most ridiculous questions coming from that side. We heard the question that Senator McDonald asked Senator Watt about the mining industry and the loss of 33,000 jobs. What a ridiculous statement to make—absolutely ridiculous. What they haven't listened to is the fact that the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations has listened to feedback. We on this side actually go out and talk to people when we form policy. We've gone out and listened to feedback about how to make sensible improvements to practical applications of the bill. That's what we're doing. We are continuing to consult as the bill progresses through the Senate, so those discussions are continuing to happen.

The minister for workplace relations and his department—putting you to sleep over there, am I, Senator Duniam? I'm making you yawn? Listen; you might hear something. We talk to people. We actually go out and talk to people.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Urquhart, resist commenting on the disposition of the members to my left. I don't need assistance, Senator Duniam.

Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I couldn't help it; he was yawning while I was speaking.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Please continue, Senator Urquhart.

Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And I thought I was loud enough to keep him awake!

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Please don't reflect on the disposition of the members to my left.

Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister for workplace relations and his department have consulted closely with businesses—the businesses that the people on the other side have pretended are scared—and with unions, who actually represent the workers in this place. Even though they don't like to use that word, they actually do represent the workers, and they have a place in businesses and civil society. We've dealt with all of those, we've consulted and we will continue to consult during the design of these reforms. As I said, we are continuing. We're continuing to have some consultations with stakeholders around concerns that small businesses have raised and around the better off overall test to ensure that no worker is left off.

I don't know why, on that side, they have a problem with workers getting a pay rise. Do they ever go out and talk to workers? We do. Workers like me, who used to work in a factory many years ago, are struggling today to make ends meet because for 10 years, while those guys were in charge, they had no wage increase. In fact, their wages were driven down. They had no ability. These are low-paid workers—aged-care workers, cleaners and childcare workers—who helped us through the pandemic and who worked day in and day out to provide for us and to get us through the pandemic. All those opposite want to do is suppress their wages and keep them down while the cost of living is rising. We know that.

There is an inflation challenge; Senator Gallagher said that in her answer to the question from Senator Cash. We know that, but there are times when workers need a wage rise, and they need it now. I think the scaremongering about job losses is simply that: scaremongering. It is not a reality. We know that under the previous government, over on that side of the chamber, wages had the lowest growth on record. Real wages went down for years and years under the guys over there, and workers really struggled. When workers get good wage rises, we know that they have higher productivity. That is demonstrated by workers who are paid proper wages, but, of course, those opposite don't know about that because they kept wages down for 10 years.

There were five days of hearings in this inquiry. That was more public hearings than for any other workplace related bill inquiry since the Fair Work Act commenced over a decade ago. So there have been more hearings on this bill than what those people over there had when they made changes to the act. We, the education employment committee that ran that inquiry, heard from employers, employer groups, the ACTU, individual unions, workers, not-for-profit organisations, academics and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. As I said, we know there is consultation that is still happening as the bill moves through the Senate. We have consulted. Those guys should stop that scaremongering because it just frightens people. It's absolutely ridiculous.

People deserve to get wage increases. People look to us, and they will now get a wage increase through the Labor Party, through the government. They deserve it because, for 10 years, those opposite kept them suppressed and their wages suppressed.

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In these final two weeks of parliament, the matter that will be top of mind for many senators will be discussions, debate and the resolution of the Labor government's new industrial relations platform. Western Australians are confused. The government, it's fair to say, enjoyed strong electoral support in Western Australia. It won the seat of Pearce, it won the seat of Hasluck and it won a Senate spot. So Western Australians can't understand why it is now that this Labor government has decided so quickly—and I think today marks the six-month anniversary of the election of the government—to turn its back on Western Australians and, importantly, to turn its back on what is a critical part of the Western Australian economy and, indeed, the most critical part of Australia's prosperity, and that is the mining and resources sector.

There are four words from Jim Chalmers that Western Australians should not forget: 'It's not our policy.' Before the election, Jim Chalmers said that wholesale industrial relations reform was not the policy of the government. Now, after the election, Jim Chalmers, the Prime Minister and Labor senators are saying it is the centrepiece of their so-called economic plan to improve wages in Australia. 'It's not our policy,' said Jim Chalmers for everybody to hear, and just six months later we are in the Senate chamber and it is the centrepiece of the last two weeks of this parliamentary sitting period.

Let's be very, very clear about why this is so central, and why it is so important for coalition senators like me, Senator Cadell and others to stand up and argue against this industrial relations plan, which will damage the mining and resources sector in Western Australia and, indeed, across the whole country. Let's be clear about this: the mining and resources sector earns for this whole country $43 billion of export revenue. Secondly, it employs over 277,000 people. Thirdly—and importantly for the government, which makes it more surprising that it would be turning its back on the mining and resources sector—it generates just over $43 billion in tax revenue for Australian governments. Western Australians have a right to be very distrustful. Why, so early on in the term of this government, having enjoyed such electoral success in Western Australia six months ago, are they now, in the final two weeks of this parliament, deciding to turn their back on such a significant—if not the most significant—industry in Western Australia. It's such an important industry across our whole country.

The problem with Labor is that you can't believe what they say. Coalition senators on the side of the Senate are surprised that so early in the term of this new government their mistruths, their lack of honesty, and their ability to wholesale-change policy commitments given prior to the election are now there for the whole community to see. Western Australians have seen it with great clarity that these industrial relations reforms will damage the mining and resources sector. The sector says 33,000 jobs are at risk as a result of the multi-employer bargaining changes in addition to new tax proposals from the government. We know—the industry tells us—that this will imperil $77 billion worth of projects—140 projects subject to pre final investment decisions will now be at risk as a result of new taxes and this industrial relations reform. Labor has betrayed Western Australian voters.

Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was pretty tough this question time to sit through the faux concern around Labor's policies on energy—particularly our policies on power prices—when we've just sat through a decade that had 22 failed attempts to deliver an energy policy in this country. Those failed attempts weren't just a catastrophic failure of policy aptitude; they also left businesses and many in our community without the certainty they needed to make investment decisions or decisions on behalf of their businesses to drive investment and growth. That lack of policy certainty has left us behind on an international scale when it comes to Australian businesses and our approach and our responses to climate change.

For a decade, we saw the other side argue about whether climate change existed—not doing the hard and detailed policy work required to deliver an energy policy that would deliver certainty to Australian businesses. That's what they now have under an Albanese Labor government. Already, we've legislated 43 per cent by 2030 and net zero 30 by 2050. These are policies enshrined by law to give that certainty to our business community and to drive investment in renewable energy and technology. That's backed up by our Powering Australia policy, which is designed to put more energy into the grid—renewable energy, which is our cheapest form of energy and which will put pressure on energy prices.

I would argue that the concern expressed in question time today was faux concern. If they were really concerned about getting the policy levers in place to make a meaningful difference on energy prices and, indeed, on climate change, they would have spent the last decade designing an energy policy they could deliver. That's not to say that the impact of energy prices at the moment on the cost-of-living challenges before us is not very real and not serious—of course it is. That's something our government is looking at and work is underway, as Minister Gallagher said in question time today. That's in addition to other measures we're taking to address the cost-of-living crisis, measures like making access to early learning and education more affordable for over one million families. That piece of legislation is being worked through the Senate today. And we're expanding paid parental leave by six months to 2026, and delivering cheaper medicines and more affordable housing. And yes, as was discussed today, we're getting wages moving again.

Unlike the other side, where keeping wages low was a deliberate feature of the economic architecture, we are unashamedly keen to get wages moving again. We have supported an increase to the minimum wage and we've supported a wage rise for aged-care workers. But there is more work to do to fix the broken bargaining system that we are currently dealing with in Australia, and that's what the legislation—that I hope we would be debating in this chamber soon—will seek to deal with. It will address wages for workers like our early childhood workers, who do some of the most important work in our country: nation-building life-changing work. Their wages have failed to keep up with the value that they contribute to our community. We need to fix the broken bargaining system so we can support workers like our early childhood workers and, indeed, many low-paid workers across our economy who are being left behind by our current industrial relations system. So I welcome a debate on that and I welcome the debate which will happen in this chamber in the next few weeks.

The other Senator Smith mentioned that today is the six-month anniversary of the Albanese Labor government, and it's an anniversary which I think is worth celebrating. Already our government has taken significant action to fix the mess and the failures of the previous government over the past decade—failures in aged care, failures in early learning and failures in wages, and in fixing our overseas relationships. Overwhelmingly, what I hear most often as I travel around South Australia is that it finally feels like adults are in charge of the government and doing the work people expect their government to be doing. That's what our government is about, not feigning faux concern over policies. Those opposite actually had a decade to do something about it; if they really genuinely cared about getting wages moving then they wouldn't have made low wages a deliberate feature of the economic architecture. If they really cared about tackling energy prices and tackling climate change then they would have delivered an energy policy one time among those 22 attempts—a policy which actually worked and delivered for Australians. It's faux concern; we're doing real work.

Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's now clearer than ever that Labor is not committed to the resources sector—that is, those jobs for many locals and associated industries, or FIFO workers. Mining companies are now warning that up to 33,000 jobs are at risk from a potential new mining tax 2.0 from Labor, as well as from their multi-employer bargaining changes.

Senator Watt rejected those numbers, so who are they listening to? Yes, their favourite unions. This would imperil projects valued up to $77 billion, spreading investment uncertainty and contagion. Who would invest amid an environment operating in investment uncertainty? The mining sector has identified 140 projects subject to pre-final-investment decisions that would be at risk from new taxes and ill-thought-through industrial relations changes. Of those 140 projects, 46 of them are critical minerals projects—critical minerals which are supposed to be part of the renewal technology supply chain Labor keeps talking about. Mining companies themselves are saying that these changes will slow down Australia's energy transformation and that we need more lithium for batteries, more copper for solar panels and more cobalt for electric vehicles—not more uncertainty and risk, which will simply chase away investment from our shores at this crucial hour.

Multi-employer bargaining and Labor's rushed industrial relations policy will only lead to more strike action and put mine developments at risk of cancellation or delay. The proposed workplace changes represent the most radical shake-up of Australia's industrial relations system in decades. Such reform is taking place with so little consultation, except with the unions. Labor have made it clear they want to hand over all workplaces to the unions. Small, medium-sized and large businesses opposed it—I've heard it myself. Industry-wide bargaining will be devastating for the mining sector and the broader Australian economy, leading to widespread strike action, including potential sympathy strikes by those unrelated to a particular dispute, just like we saw in the 1970s.

In my own state of South Australia, mining production is worth in the vicinity of $5.4 billion a year. What's the risk to that under this policy? The introduction of multi-employer bargaining is a breach of faith with all Australian businesses who took the Treasurer at his word when he said last year that industry-wide bargaining was not Labor's policy. I heard it, and so did the Australian public. This needlessly threatens the mining industry, which earns over $413 billion in exports, employs over 277,000 Australians in high-paid jobs, and contributed $43.2 billion in taxes in 2020-21. In the last 20 years, employment in mining has tripled and wages have doubled, benefiting hundreds of thousands of Australians, especially in regional areas.

In what is a recurring theme, Labor has no plan to support jobs and the economy; Labor is not supporting Australian families struggling with the increasing cost of living; and, clearly, Labor does not support the resources industry. While the coalition wholeheartedly supports mining and the jobs it creates, Labor is beholden to its own left wing and its allies in the Australian Greens who want to shut down the resources industry and the jobs of thousands of Australians, including those in regional and remote areas. Who are they listening to? Businesses actually delivering jobs for Australians in those areas? They don't like that you didn't consult with them on the common interest test, multi-employer bargaining or the removal of the ABCC. Your union masters like it, though.

Question agreed to.