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

I know we're not allowed to use props in this place, so I won't, but here is my Christmas card for the coming year. And it's very important, because each year I use a country church from Queensland because I love Christmas and I also love old churches.

The one I have chosen this year is from Bowen: the Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Bowen. It was first built in 1865, but what happens in northern and Central Queensland is that Mother Nature comes along and gets involved so buildings often have to be rebuilt. The present Holy Trinity Anglican Church was rebuilt in the mid-1930s. It was designed by a prominent Mackay architect, Harold Vivian Marsh Brown, who contributed quite substantially to the architecture of Central Queensland in that particular period. Funnily enough, this church holds much happiness for the Willcox family—Senator Scarr, you're friends with the member for Dawson.

Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes.

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

Not only was he married there, but his parents were married there and one of his children is going to be married there. What I'm saying to everybody is to let this humble church be a reminder to all of us in the coming year and to let the coming year be a good year. Let peace come upon your families and let peace come upon the Holy Land. And may you have a merry Christmas.

Actually, that was me being nice! Now I need to talk about the Labor Party and the unions. There would be peace in this chamber if we could get down to the bottom of the dirty deal between the Labor Party and the unions when it comes to the particular legislation called the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023 and how this came about. I will tell the chamber how it came about: it came about because it is payback. It is payback from the Labor Party to the union movement because the union movement put millions of dollars, tens of millions of dollars, into the election of this Labor-Greens government.

This bill changes the Fair Work Act to give unions the right to bust into businesses without any notice when they believe there's a risk of so-called wage underpayment. No-one supports wage underpayment, but this bill actually isn't about that. This bill is all about payback to the union movement. The union thugs don't need to submit any documentation to the government to do this and they don't need to give the business any heads up or warning to say, 'We're going to come along'. It means that these union thugs will rock up to your business—they probably don't even have to knock on the door, they can just walk in—and you're legally required to hand over details of your finances, employment register and any other information they deem relevant in their search for alleged underpayment.

This is ridiculous. I have seen a lot of rubbish proposals come to this place from the Labor Party over the years and I've seen a lot come from the watermelons, from their side of the garden patch, but this would have to take the cake. It takes the cake, it eats it and then spits it out again. Really? They're giving union thugs the legal right to break into businesses? You could be a sparky, an employer, and do the books out of your family living room in Oxley. This legislation will give unions the right to enter your home and access your private devices without any approval from the government and, more importantly, without any approval from yourself, your husband or your wife. What if you're a grazier out in Roma? Too bad! If the unions think you're underpaying someone, they can waltz up the back steps, onto the veranda and into the kitchen—which is where most people tend to do the business and paperwork—and then examine your financial records on the family computer.

To small businesses across Queensland: be afraid. Be very afraid of what the Labor Party and the unions have cooked up. It also, and this is quite interesting, gives unions the right to contact your employee—or, as this act refers to them, potential members.

Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's about the unions!

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

This is all about the unions, as Senator Scarr has pointed out. This is all about the unions, which are dying as industrial relations organisations but are living quite well as campaigning organisations. This gives them the opportunity to try to sign up members. Less than one in 10 Australians who are in the workforce are members of a union. Why is that? Because unions are as outdated as flares; they really aren't relevant in the modern Australian workplace. This bill makes a mockery of the employee-employer relationship. I flew to Canberra on Sunday, funnily enough from Cairns, Senator Scarr. I came down here to daylight savings. I thought I would be gaining an hour because of daylight savings time, but I've gone back 50 years. I've gone back to flares. We've gone back to the union movement and the union power bosses.

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

What's wrong with flares?

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

Flares are a particular individual taste, Senator Urquhart, and I don't think they'd fit my rather masculine body particularly well. You'll be interested in this, Senator Urquhart. I had some spare time today. On the Australian Labor Party website—alp.org.au, if you want to go there because you've got no life—under its policy proposals page, there is a section titled Better wages for Australian workers. I kid you not. I think this is one of those comedy websites. It states: 'Labor governments are good for wages'. This would have to be one of those fake Betoota Advocate misinformation websites. This is the Labor Party saying that they're good for wages. Well, guess what? They're good for their wages, and they're good for the wages of an extra 50 politicians that they want to bring into the other chamber, which means an extra 20 politicians into this page. That's 70 extra politicians and their wages.

We're in a cost-of-living crisis in Australia. The Labor Party website says that the Labor Party are good for wages, and the Labor Party want to bring more highly paid politicians to Canberra. Canberra doesn't need more politicians. It needs better politicians, particularly those sitting around the cabinet table. Let's face it: their best days are well behind them. We need good people who understand business and understand real life sitting around that cabinet table, but we also need common sense. We don't need more politicians; we need more common sense in Canberra. You're not going to get that, because the Labor Party have hit upon a cunning plan to ensure their real action by expanding the House of Reps and getting more senators into this place.

Senator Scarr and I speak on behalf of the LNP contingent in Queensland. We're very happy with the quality of the LNP politicians from Queensland.

Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They're outstanding!

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

They're outstanding, actually. It would be good to get 12 LNP politicians from Queensland, but we don't think you need more senators from Queensland. We think we can do the job well enough. Senator Scarr has talked about what he was doing on the weekend in terms of the fantastic work with those sporting organisations. I went to Tully on Sunday.

Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Oh, beautiful Tully. Was it raining?

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

It was raining in Innisfail when I drove through. In Tully, it was what you'd call a heavy mist. I went to Tully. I had a meeting with the good members of the Liberal and National parties there and some other community meetings. They're pretty happy with the number of politicians they have. The people up there are not marching on the streets saying: 'Give us more senators; give us more politicians. That is going to solve the cost-of-living crisis; that is going to solve the crime crisis.' What I would say to the Labor is: go back and look at your website. I think it needs a good edit because, if this misinformation bill comes through, you're going to be in trouble and you're all going to the clinker, and I don't think you'll do well in jail.

Senate adjourned at 20:28