This is the nub of it, Senator Lundy, and you know that. You want these independent contractors to be subject to the industrial relations regime when, in fact, it is a separate commercial arrangement and that should be noted and acknowledged. Minister Andrews put it this way during his second reading speech. I am going to note it for the senators on the other side and, indeed, for members of the public. He said:

State deeming laws have become so absurd that they can result in completely arbitrary distinctions—an independent contractor who drives a bus can be deemed an employee, while a taxi driver is not; or a person who packages goods under a contract for services is deemed to be an employee if they do so at their home, but not if they do so on business premises; a blind installer is deemed to be an employee but a plumber is not.

The existing regulation of independent contracting across many of the states is a regulation of entrepreneurship. It is job destroying.

Minister Andrews is correct. The approach that Labor is taking to this bill is job destroying. As I said earlier, what we are trying to build in Australia is a spirit of entrepreneurship, a spirit of enterprise. I would like to see Australia leading the world in providing the foundation for the growth in enterprise, the growth in entrepreneurs. It is something of which we, as a country, can be proud. As a member of the government, I am certainly proud of the efforts to make that happen.

Senator Siewert also made a number of comments about the workplace relations legislation amendments in terms of them being thrown into the Senate and that she had little notice. I want to remind Senator Siewert and other senators opposite and elsewhere that this was based on a government announcement on 13 November this year.