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

There you go. The minister on the other side of the chamber is saying he loves it, but it also shows that, without ideology dictating industrial relations policy, there is room for cooperation where it's appropriate.

From a small business employment perspective, the bill is particularly important, and this is the part that matters most, of course, to many people on this side of the chamber. Service providers to the mining sector often operate on tight margins, employ highly skilled workers and invest heavily in safety and compliance. Sudden retrospective liabilities of this scale can be fatal regardless of intent or past conduct, particularly when everybody acknowledges that the employers did not engage in misconduct. If there is to be change, the government needs to be facilitators towards a better future, and the parliament is taking that responsibility.

By avoiding unnecessary business failures, it's not just good economics, though it is. It's actually just good social policy, because what we actually want is to make sure that Australians are empowered and have more agency and control over their lives, not simply make people mendicants of the state. Every insolvency avoided is jobs preserved, families protected and regional communities kept strong. This bill provides certainty, stability and a clear pathway forward. For those reasons the opposition supports the bill, and no doubt it's the reason that it's not been put forward by the Treasurer.

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