Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business, Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the time available to me I would like to advise the House that it is my intention to introduce on behalf of the opposition a private member’s bill called the Paid Parental Leave (Reduction of Compliance Burden for Employers) Amendment Bill 2010. The coalition will be introducing this bill—and hopefully we will have the opportunity to debate it—to end the needless and pointless red tape and compliance burden being imposed on employers big and small by the Gillard Labor government’s Paid Parental Leave scheme. Despite strong objection from every corner of this continent from Gladstone to Esperance and from every organisation that has any concern whatsoever about the compliance and red tape obligations on businesses large and small, the government seems to steadfastly want to persist in imposing this pay clerk obligation—a mandatory duty to do the government’s work for it—on employers, despite the fact that it has offered no compelling reason for doing so.

In fact, the concerns the coalition have raised and that many big and small employers, industry organisations and those engaged in this debate have also raised about the cost, the compliance risk, the complete needless and pointless nature of this mandatory obligation, have been swatted away by the government, as if they do not matter, saying: ‘It will only affect a few employers. What kind of big deal could it possibly be? The coalition are wrong in raising these concerns.’ It says this despite the chorus of support that our actions have generated amongst those with an interest in letting business get on with the business of creating employment opportunities and wealth for our country. But you do not have to follow the coalition’s argument. In fact, the government’s September 2010 document ‘Centrelink employer engagement plan: paid parental leave scheme implementation’ says:

A major potential constraint for many employers will be the readiness of their payroll and accounting software to implement the scheme. This may impede our—

‘our’ being the government’s—

advocacy of early adoption and in a worst case scenario could cause severe disruption in the lead-up to the mandatory employer rollout from 1 July 2011 if the necessary systems are not in place.

That is a direct quote from the government’s own document and it highlights the very specific, legitimate and real concerns many employers have, particularly smaller employers. Yet the government is displaying arrogance and indifference, and is out of touch with the small-business people of this nation. It continues to ignore their concerns, swats them away as if they do not matter because it so disconnected from the real-life challenges of small business. In the government’s first 2½ years, it has reduced the number of people employed in small business by 300,000. This lack of interest has to end. (Time expired)