Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Exactly. As the member for Griffith rightly says: it is a stunt. As David Speers says:

You're the one wanting to intervene here.

The minister says:

No, no, no. You need to ask that particular person.

No. It is the job of those opposite to explain it, and they cannot. The reason they cannot do it is that, again, this is a stunt. It is not legislation. This is a stunt that is basically trying to justify an intervention during a political campaign.

Mind you, here is the danger with what they are doing: imagine at some point down the track if we were on the other side of the House and sought to intervene in individual industrial disputes. That is what is being opened up here. The door is being opened to this type of thing. The federal government have shown that they can just intervene on whatever they choose in a state bargaining arena. They will go forward and just intervene. This is not the way that business is done. There is a clear delineation between the levels of government. There is a clear delineation between the industrial relations systems that are oversighted at the federal and state levels. Clearly, it is not about politics. The worst thing that could happen is that, instead of business having certainty, they have to wonder whether or not a federal Liberal government, trying to extract political gain, will just leap in and decide that they are going to get themselves involved. That is what they are doing.

This is not some pro-business government; this is a pro-political outfit that is deciding for its own benefit what it will get involved in and when, how and where. This is not the way that the parliament should work. But, again, what would you expect? What would you expect from a parliament now being run by a government that is making us sit later in the day and finish earlier? They talk about crewing levels; they cannot even crew themselves to meet an adjournment debate or to vote on one, and they want to be able to dictate to others what is going on. It is a shambles and it should not be occurring.

As the shadow minister for employment outlined today, what is at the heart of this legislation, this stunt, is currently being decided in the courts. The legislation will also be subject to a Senate inquiry. We will be going through it. There will be opportunities to highlight what a ridiculous situation we have been put in. This is not a situation where the government should be getting involved in this way.

Mr Hunt interjecting—

All it is is a stunt that was triggered by that minister there, who decided that he needed Malcolm Turnbull, the Prime Minister, to get involved in doing something to rescue the flagging fortunes of a coalition that had no clue and was rudderless, and they decided to kick into this. That is why they are getting so exercised and that is why they want to interrupt while this debate is going on. They well know this is—

Mr Hunt interjecting—

Listen, there are so many issues that occur in public life at a federal level that you have a responsibility for, Minister, but you would not get involved. You would not care; you would not get involved. So please don't tell me that for some reason this is the biggest signature issue that you will deal with right now. When people are not getting the money they feel they should be getting, the wage increases that they want to get to be able to get a bit of breathing space so that they can then get ahead themselves, you will never see those opposite talk about that.

You will never see them championing for wage growth in this country to make sure that people actually feel much more comfortable and able to do what they want to do. You will not see it. They will talk about cuts. They will talk about changes that rip people off and make it harder for them. But they will never come in here and make people's lives easier—unless it is for themselves. That is why this legislation is a joke, why this bill is a joke, why the parliament's time is being wasted. They do not have an agenda. They have a three-word slogan, a one-point plan and stunts like this, and the parliament's time is being wasted as a result.

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