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

I am glad the member for Hunter is in the chamber because he gave a very good contribution last night in the adjournment debate about a mining tragedy in his electorate and it struck me at the time that there was a similar tragedy in my electorate, commemorated for the centenary thereof in 2012, on 13 January 1912. The Barrier Mine disaster claimed the lives of six men, leaving five widows and leaving 13 children fatherless. The member for McEwen is right when he says that people have the right to get home safely, that employers have an obligation to make sure that they do everything in their power to ensure that the workers in their care get home safe and sound. It doesn't matter what job you are in, you have the right to, at the end of your shift, go home in one piece to your loved ones safe from your day's toil.

This Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023 is an important piece of legislation, but I don't agree with the member for McEwen when he talks about the particular piece of legislation that was brought forward some years ago under the guise of road safety remuneration and, even in this particular legislation, the closing loopholes piece. I have to give Labor credit: they title their bills very well. It's not always about the content of the bill and what is actually going to be legislated. The road safety piece that the member for McEwen based most of his address on was not anywhere near making sure that truck drivers got home safely; it was about unionising the transport sector. It was about putting those family owned and operated businesses that are so prevalent in regional Australia off the road, making it almost impossible for them to compete against the big conglomerates. We know who they are, and they do a great job. They do. I know the owners and operators of those big companies very well, and I commend them for the job that they do because everyone's next meal is probably coming to them on a truck.

But then there are those small family owners and operators. I well recall one from Coolum and another from West Wyalong and particularly the one from Bland shire who came to a rally at this place on 18 April 2016. They were concerned that the bill in its form back then was going to force them to unionise their businesses and basically put them out of work. It wasn't about road safety. I heard the member for McEwen say shortcuts are taken with vehicles et cetera because they don't have the time and there is not the safety push in those companies. Well, there is. Those companies take their jobs very, very seriously. They ensure that their trucks are what they need to be. The modern fleet that we have these days makes it everyone's business for those trucks to get where they need to be on time and safely.

I would perhaps more endorse the member for McEwen if he were to go to the minister for transport and urge for the 90-day review hold on infrastructure that she put in place—and it has now been 125 days—to be lifted such that we can get some of the bitumen rolled out on some of the roads. That would, then, assist and aid road safety. If you drive around regional Australia at the moment, including the Newell Highway, one of the busiest trucking freight routes in this country, it is in appalling condition. I am not blaming Labor for the condition of the road. The weather events have ensured that the potholes are everywhere. But I am blaming Labor for not getting on with the job of making sure that some of that infrastructure spending is out there and is being put in place and working with states to ensure that it is so. Labor haven't actually put a hold on their own election commitments in 2022, just the commitments that the coalition had in place prior to that. That is such a shame, a pity, and it is quite appalling, in fact.

I was a union member, and I know that this is largely about repaying the unions for what they did prior to Labor returning to government. I get that Labor wants to pay back its union dues. I was a union member for 21 years and probably have more union experience than most of those opposite, which sometimes comes as a surprise to them. That said, we need everything to be in balance. Unions running the show is not going to be a good show, but we need to balance the union rights—and, yes, they have rights—against small businesses' ability to operate, particularly in an economic environment where cost-of-living pressures are so high. Whether it is the good folk up in the gallery or people right across Australia, they are doing it tough because inflation is high. They are doing it tough, and many are working two and three jobs just to make ends meet. They are doing it tough because power costs are high. They are doing it tough because grocery costs are high.

Yesterday I spoke to a group of seniors for whom fuel costs are one of the biggest factors in their weekly household budget bills. They can't afford to pay for their fuel needs, and what does this government talk about? It is appeasing its union mates. They talk about everything but what is really crucial and meaningful to Mr and Mrs Average out there doing it tough at the moment. I would urge and encourage members opposite to go back to their electorates not to talk at people but to listen to them and hear what they have to say when it comes to making sure that cost-of-living issues are addressed.

The National Farmers Federation said this week that for most farmers their workplace is also their family home. 'The farm is the kids' backyard,' the NFF Vice President David Jochinke said. He continued:

There are safety and biosecurity considerations. We can't just have union reps waltzing in unannounced.

I know those opposite would love union reps to be able to just walk into a workplace, demand the books and demand everything and then make that that was the status quo across the nation as part of this legislation. But business and farming operations are particularly concerned about new rights of entry without notice, and they should be concerned. They should be worried because, if the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations has his way, it will be open slather. That's the problem. It's Labor appeasing its union mates, and, like everything Labor does, you don't believe what they say. You don't believe what they pledge or promise; you believe what they do.

What they do is usually completely the opposite to what they say they are going to do, like in this legislation, which they say is 'closing loopholes'. It all sounds good, all sounds nice, all sounds as though the Australian public should say, 'Well, yes, why wouldn't we just do that?' As the member for McEwen said, 'Why hasn't this already been done?' But it is not about closing loopholes; it is about making sure that the union runs the show, making sure that the union can just march into a workplace, a small business, and demand everything that they want. They'll be able to make unreasonable demands. The difficulty here is that small business is once again being trampled on by this government. This government doesn't understand small business. This government isn't heeding the calls of the Australian people about cost-of-living pressures, and more is the pity. They will have to answer those questions when they go to the next election. The people will say, 'Why didn't you address those cost-of-living pressures and issues that we were under?' and 'Why did you make it so hard for small business?' Those opposite don't get small business. They never have, and not many of them have ever run a small business. They run to a small business to run a picket line outside the small business, but very few of them have actually run a small business.

Small business operators, they're the ones who take the risks. They're the ones who don't take the holiday. They're the ones who employ people. They're the ones who go without to make sure that their business succeeds. They're the ones who make sure their customers come first. And they're the ones who are being ignored and denied by this legislation, by this ill-thought out, ill-conceived legislation that is before the House.

It's a con job, just like the 94 times Labor promised a $275 cut in electricity prices prior to the last election, long after Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine—an excuse given as one of the reasons why the power costs went up. Many, many times after that invasion took place, Labor continued to promise that $275 would come off power bills. And has it? Those listening, those driving their trucks at the moment listening into this broadcast, well, they'll be watching the road, but they'll be shaking their head because they'll know that that cost hasn't come off. People right throughout Australia know it hasn't either. Electricity prices came down under the coalition government, and they're just going up and up and up under Labor. It's such a shame, and it's so unnecessary.

We have increased costs that are going to be passed on to consumers. And let me tell you, if this bill is passed in the way it is written it will have an impost on small business and small business can't afford it. They're struggling even as we speak. They're struggling with poor policies and bad legislation by this dreadful government that doesn't consider small business. And unfortunately, when costs go up for small business and the bottom line deteriorates, they have to pass the costs on to consumers. More people pay more, pay through the hip pocket, because of the decisions made by those opposite.

It doesn't matter to the employment minister. He doesn't care. He just wants to appease his union mates, and so do all of those opposite who will come to the microphone with their Labor talking points, reading them line by line. The Labor dirt union, at its finest, is dredging up why we should be appeasing unions, why we should be making sure it's better for workers. Labor forgot workers. They forgot them years ago. They don't care about workers. They don't care about workers, they just care about the unions and making sure they appease the unions.

There are many reasons as to why this is a bad bill. It's impossibly intricate. There's too much uncertainty. It adds additional costs to businesses, particularly small businesses—particularly those many thousands of small businesses who had come out of the back of COVID and were looking forward to better times ahead, and now they cop this legislation. It makes Australians pay more in a cost-of-living crisis. It does nothing to increase productivity. We've heard the member for Bradfield so often talk about the importance of increasing productivity. Well, this bill ain't going to cut that, let me tell you. It does nothing to enhance competition. We heard earlier today about the decision to block Qatar Airways and how that's going to lead to less competition. It risks jobs. It only rewards unions, the paymasters of the Labor Party. It institutionalises conflict in our workplace—something we do not want to see. The government says it has made concessions for businesses. It hasn't. Don't believe what Labor says it's going to do. And it weakens our economy, making a bad situation worse. That is unfortunate. That is unnecessary, particularly at a time when Australians are looking to the government that was elected to do a job, that said it would do a job, and all it is doing is turning its back on Australian consumers and Australian small businesses.

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