Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

I'm simply making reference to the numerous federal court judges who have made very similar comments about the many members of the CFMEU who appeared before them because they appear to regard that as simply a part of their professional duties. The insistence of the Albanese Labor government and the union movement on having a broad range of employers bargain together is particularly troubling for small and medium businesses. It is no surprise that small business representatives have lined up to express their very grave concern. National employer associations, including the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia, are very clear in saying that the expansion of multi-employer bargaining, and the provision in this bill, 'fails to articulate clear parameters around where multi-employer bargaining would be available in either the supported bargaining or single-interest streams; and undermines the system of enterprise bargaining that has delivered many significant benefits to Australia over several decades'.

When the Minister for Small Business was asked in question time today about whether it was the case that small businesses that found themselves in a shopping centre together with a large business, such as one of the large supermarkets, would be captured by the common interest test in the legislation, which specifically talks about a shared, a common, geographical location, she asserted that they would not, which flies in the face of everything that has been said about these provisions at every stage of this process. This bill has been rushed. The whole process has been highly unsatisfactory.

What the government has admitted in the regulatory impact statement is that a typical small-to-medium business could face charges of between $14,000 and $75,000. Now, it could indeed be more than that because the source for this estimate is the author of an article on a website called authentic.com.au, Benjamin J Harvey, described on his website as 'a cross between business strategist, modern-day spiritual healer and self-development expert'. It says:

… Benjamin J Harvey is as comfortable working with Shamans to Strategists, Psychics to Sales Reps, Healers to Home Makers, Buddhists to Businessmen and Meditators to Mediators.

This is the rigor with which this government prepared these cost estimates. They've done a bit of googling. They've come up with a man who describes himself as a 'modern-day spiritual healer', and they've said, 'Right, we'll whack that number in.' Why have they done that? Because they don't really give a rat's. They really do not care how much small business is going to have to pay. They're not troubled about it at all.

The reality is that small businesses around this country face very significant costs and very significant burdens of time and of distraction. They are being taken away from what is their passion, which is serving their customers. They're being taken away from their passion, which is providing stable and secure employment for their employees who have often been with them for decades and are regarded as family members. This is an extremely disappointing expansion of union power into small businesses across Australia.

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