Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Senator Watt. I refer the minister to an answer he gave in question time last Thursday, when he suggested that one of Australia's most respected business advocacy groups, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was misleading its members and was wrong. Has the minister himself reached out to ACCI in order to address the issues outlined in question time?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Duniam. Well, hasn't it been a bad weekend to be a Liberal? It's been a bad weekend to be a Liberal. We've had the Victorian election result, all those claims about—

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam President—

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Fifteen seconds!

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam President—

Honourable senators interjecting—

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

Sorry, Senator Duniam, I can't hear you for the noise in the chamber. Senator Duniam.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam President, a point of order on relevance. I appreciate Senator Watts's observing of the weekend's events. I had a question about a question he answered last Thursday.

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

Thank you. Yes. I will direct the minister to the question. Please move to the question, thank you, Senator Watt.

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the Minister for Emergency Management, I will admit that speaking to ACCI has not been my highest priority, because we have other ministers who have direct contact with them. But what I will say is that I have been having a lot of contact with stakeholders in my portfolio lately. One of the things they keep saying to me is that they are incredibly relieved to finally have a government that is prepared to actually get out there and listen to them on issues like agriculture, fisheries, forestry and emergency management, rather than National Party or Liberal Party ministers that used to walk in, lecture them and tell them how things were going to be without actually listening. So I'm very happy to talk about the relationships I've got with stakeholders in my portfolios.

But, as I was saying, it has been a bad weekend to be a Liberal, especially in Victoria. I don't know how Senator Henderson must be feeling after all the carry-on that we saw from Senator Henderson in the weeks leading up to the election. But it wasn't just the Victorian election that made it a bad weekend to be a Liberal. We had more revelations about former Prime Minister Scott Morrison and all those tricks he played.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Watt, you have drifted. I would draw your attention back to the question, thank you.

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, President; I respect your ruling. I thought I had addressed the question by talking about the fact that I'd been concentrating on speaking to stakeholders in my portfolios rather than stakeholders in other portfolios.

What is probably going to be hardest for the Liberal Party to accept this week is that the decade of low wages that they presided over is finally at an end, because we have reached agreement with Senator David Pocock as to our policies about industrial relations, and they are going to get wages moving again—something that we know certain employer groups don't want to support, and we certainly know the Liberal Party doesn't want to support. But those days are over, wages are going to get moving again, and that's going to be good for business too. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Duniam, first supplementary.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let's try and come back to what I was asking about. I refer again to the minister's answer of last Thursday, where he queried, 'So are ACCI telling us they're opposed to a wage rise?' followed by a sarcastic comment where he said 'shock, horror'. Does the minister agree that it's extraordinary for a cabinet minister to so petulantly attack a key stakeholder about their concerns about job creation?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, I don't think it would be a surprise to anyone that one of Australia's largest employer groups would not be particularly keen on reforms to an industrial relations system which offers workers the chance of a pay rise. We know that a lot of employer group supported the former government's industrial relations legislation, and that's okay—they're entitled to their view. It would hardly be surprising that the union movement is supportive of laws being changed so that workers can actually get a pay rise. So we are totally unapologetic about the fact that we are bringing in laws that will bring to an end the decade of deliberate low wage growth that was at the centre of the former government's economic policy. We understand there will be some people who won't be happy about it. We understand there will be millions of workers in Australia who will be very happy about the fact that we finally have a government that is prepared to put their interests first and give them the pay rise they've been waiting for over a decade to enjoy.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Duniam, your second supplementary?

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Given the minister has just confirmed that that's the intent of what he said, will the minister now apologise to ACCI and to its members for his anti-employer and anti job creator rant last week?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If there's one group of people who should be apologising when it comes to industrial relations, it's the Liberal Party of Australia. They should be apologising for the decade of low wage growth that they forced upon every single working Australian in this country. They should also apologise for the low productivity that was delivered to business as a result of their conflict driven, anti-agreement policies that actually hurt the interests of workers and businesses.

I predict this week is the week when the full reality of the federal election defeat is going to finally hit home for the Liberal party. They are finally waking up to the fact that their decade of low wages is coming to an end, because they lost the election and they lost it to a government that had a central platform of getting wages moving again. We are going to deliver on the mandate we received from the Australian people to get wages moving again. I know it's going to be very, hard for the Liberal Party, especially those from the state of Victoria after the weekend they had, but every worker is counting on us delivering this, and we're going to do it.