Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

I've been a union member for 21 years, so you can wave your arms is all you like. I've been a member. I bet you there are not many members opposite who've been in a union for longer than two decades, are there? No. I have. I've been a member of a union for more than two decades. You might laugh, but I have, so I understand there is a balance. But the balance doesn't mean that we get unions running the show. The balance doesn't mean that we get unions, as in the industrial relations legislation, running small businesses into the ground. But don't just take my word for it. Andrew Mackellar, of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the revelations from the hearing into the IR laws confirmed what we've known all along, that 'this bill has been rushed and is, at best, half baked'. I think he's probably underselling it! It has been rushed. It has been half-baked.

There are many others. We saw the NFF warn that the government's IR changes will lead to increased industrial action in the agriculture sector, which could cripple supply chains and lead to food shortages. We don't need that. We're already under enough pressure. Communities and families and businesses are already under enough pressure without the warnings that are coming loud and clear but that those opposite chose not to heed.

See this speech in context