Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm happy to withdraw it, Deputy Speaker. 'To take advantage of'—how about that? We also can't have it that workers take advantage of employers. It's one of those beautiful things. We go back to the wonders of economic philosophy and the principle of voluntary exchange, people being able to come together to advance mutually beneficial relationships. We actually want people to do the right thing.

Of course, the government has put a backstop into the arrangements around making sure that workers get their pay through the establishment of the Fair Entitlements Guarantee scheme. The principal scheme is quite straightforward when it comes down to it. If, for some nefarious or ill-gotten reason, an employer cannot meet their obligations to employees, ultimately the Australian people have those workers' backs. But we know, as it's often the case, that people always align themselves to incentives. We have experienced a demand on the FEG scheme where annual average costs have more than tripled, from $70.7 million in the four-year period between 2005 and 30 June 2009 to $235.3 million in the four-year period between 1 July 2014 and 30 June 2018. That's not sustainable. We shouldn't be rewarding people for finding ways to minimise their obligations to their fellow Australians. The job of the government isn't to turn around and just accept that. Ultimately, that's somebody else's money—meaning taxpayers'. It was taken from taxpayers' pockets to line the Treasury for the collective good of the nation and it shouldn't be misused. We should hold those people who have done the wrong thing to account. And that's what we've sought to do with this piece of legislation.

It's not the only space where this government is working. As the member for Forrest, our Chief Whip and somebody who is fierce in her advocacy for her electorate, rightly pointed out, this government is working at every point to try to provide Australians with opportunities to realise their dreams and their success. The PaTH program is designed to encourage more people to get into work. We are trying to remove the barriers that inhibit the capacity of small businesses to go on and employ more people. We provide tax relief so that, when people actually do work, they're in a better position to support themselves. We're trying to minimise the tax burden so that people are able to not just support themselves, although that's critically important, but go on, of course, and fuel the rest of the economy, because only people pay taxes, and people are in the best position to drive the economic growth of this country. But we're also looking beyond the issues specifically around workers and their entitlements from a consequence of work—that's why it's an entitlement—and the obligations of employers to looking at what happens in other areas of the economy as well.

One of the things that I have the privilege of doing at the moment is being the Chair of the Standing Committee on Economics. We're dealing with some of the challenges we face around the banks, and we've been having inquiries looking into the four major banks by bringing forward the CEOs. We've just finished a round recently. We're holding big banks to account to make sure they're meeting the expectations of the Australian people, because ultimately this piece of legislation is about that: accountability and responsibility. We've been turning around to the banks as well and asking: 'Are you accountable? Are you responsible in meeting the expectations of your consumers, your clients and Australian shareholders and, of course, their critical role in greasing the wheel of the Australian economy?' Just like Labor is a critical part of the Australian economy, so is capital. Everybody has to be accountable, everybody has to be responsible and everybody has to be part of building this nation's future. When we grill those bank CEOs, just like when company directors are grilled by those who seek to liquidate companies or insolvents, ultimately it comes down to what you're doing, what your conduct is and making sure you're doing the right thing.

The practical reality, and it's sad to say, is: there will always be incentives for people to do the wrong thing. That's the story of human history. Well, I believe that justice sits in the hearts of most Australians and of most people around the world. The reality is we know that there have always been people who have sought to make a quick buck by doing the wrong thing. You just need to look at the illicit drugs trade. You just need to look at the illicit tobacco trade, where, of course, when you increase taxes and introduce regulation that creates interchangeable products, like plain packaging, people then go and take advantage of that to finance their nefarious agendas, whether it be crime, terrorism or organised activity, at the same time.

There will always be people who do wrong. The question for the people in this place is: do we have the legal system in place to have the infrastructure and the framework to incentivise people to do the right thing and the punitive measures in place when people cross that line? That's what the government are trying to do. I would have thought it's one of those little things that the opposition should back, but I see, once again, as part of their constant efforts of trying to draw attention to themselves and their utter irrelevancy, they've moved an amendment to this bill as well. I look forward to having the pointless and needless division that we're going to have for no purpose and no sake because they simply want to go up and grandstand in front of the nation. They're more than entitled to do so.

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