Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare, Women and Youth) Share this | Hansard source

Urban Australia is definitely concerned, as my friend the member for Greenway has just reminded me. The coalition will be moving amendments to Labor’s legislation to save jobs in all sectors, and I urge the government to have a close look at these amendments. These amendments will help to take the edges off some of the most job-destroying parts of this law, ensuring that we go some way to preserving the jobs of working Australians.

I feel very passionate about this, coming from a small business background myself. I know how hard it is to make a buck out there, competing against big players, and I know how much harder it is to hold on to what you have once you have made a bit of money. Government seems to want to be taking it from you from all angles. I know how hard it is to try and survive during a recession. I remember, because I worked in my father’s milk bar during the last recession. I was very proud of the fact that he managed not to make money through the recession but to survive. We want to make sure that our small businesses right around Australia survive. Please do not penalise them. Do not treat them with some blanket rule that some group of union heavies has sat around a table and decided on and said to the government, ‘This is what we want you to do—there’s no compromise on that.’ This is bigger than that. It is bigger than interest groups. It is about jobs, it is about real people and it is about sustaining communities. I urge the government to rethink their approach to this legislation.

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