Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Hansard source

Those opposite don't like it when I point out the truth of this bill. This erodes the choices of entrepreneurs. It erodes the very foundation of the core values of having a go, of building something from nothing, and of keeping more of what you have earned in order to invest in yourself, your community, and, most of all, in your business.

This is the entrepreneurial spirit of the Gold Coast at stake here, which this Labor government is planning to dismantle right now. The chambers of commerce and the manufacturing sector in my electorate do not support this bill, and neither do hardworking business owners, who will be forced into doing as they are told by unions and fair work. The ACCI chief executive, Andrew McKellar, has warned that compulsory multi-employer bargaining is a seismic shift to Australia's workplace relations system, reversing decades of tripartite consensus, and it would result in more strikes, fewer jobs, centralised decision-making and less trust within our enterprises. He says:

Enterprise bargaining is the cornerstone of our workplace relations system, and any significant change requires an extended period of robust and transparent public consultation.

Yet this government is in such a hurry to ram this through the parliament they have not even conducted proper consultation, except with their union bosses. And they haven't conducted any modelling on the effects, and nor do they understand the consequences of these seismic changes to the everyday lives of working Australians.

The Business Council of Australia chief executive, Jennifer Westacott, who we all know and have heard from, said:

We want wages to go up but that won't be achieved by creating more complexity, more strikes and higher unemployment.

Australia is in the midst of a global economic storm and there's no room for error if we want to secure our economic future; we have to tread carefully.

That's the message from the Business Council of Australia. But those opposite are not treading carefully. No. They are ramming through these changes, without amendment or due consideration, for the biggest IR changes since WorkChoices. That's the message from the Business Council of Australia. But those opposite are not treading carefully. No! They're ramming through these changes without amendment or due consideration for the biggest IR changes since Work Choices.

Consider this scenario: there is a family with a printing business on the Gold Coast. There are plenty of them. There are three generations of family. They employ 40 locals and they support their local community through fundraising activities and through sponsorships. An employee goes to the boss and asks for more flexible working hours and for some time working at home. Some staff are always sick and the business is already understaffed due to shortages, as we know, so the boss has to say: 'Look, I'm really sorry. I need you here to serve customers and to supervise the deliveries. You can't do that from home, and I can't change our opening hours. So I need to have you here, please.' The employee says that's not fair and makes a complaint to the Fair Work Commission. As a result, the way you manage your rosters, your staff and perhaps even your opening hours is now subject to the arbitration of the Fair Work Commission. You are no longer the boss. You have been manipulated by this bill through the unions, who are now the CEO of your family business, and the Fair Work Commission, which is your new general manager. (Time expired)

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