Senate debates

Tuesday, 13 March 2012

Matters of Public Importance

Economy

4:28 pm

Photo of Sue BoyceSue Boyce (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will not use that particular term again, although it does not change my view that members on the other side in both houses of the parliament do not have a clear view of how to build a proper and productive economy. I will continue to suggest that they certainly are not living in the real world or in the real commercial world, that they are behind the times in understanding what drivers are needed to make the Australian economy strong and to make Australian businesses, services and industry strong. They just do not get it.

I was talking about the lack of concern by this government to productivity and the massive increase in the number of successful unfair dismissal claims by employees since this government put its Fair Work Act through. As I said, some of the less sophisticated people on the other side of the House might want to suggest that this is simply because small business unfairly dismisses staff at a great rate of knots. I am sorry, but Senator Pratt cannot have it both ways. She cannot have a wonderful employment rate and suggest that people are being unfairly dismissed all the time by their employers. What is happening is that a minority of employees are finding a little treasure trove that takes us back to the sorts of institutionalised misbehaviours that went on before the Howard-Costello government came to office, when employers often paid do-not-come-back money to employees simply to save themselves the cost and the time involved in going to court. There is an example in today's Financial Review of a Wagga Wagga businessman, Martyn Tapfield, who has had two cases taken out by employees against him—both of which he has won. But he points out that, with the time and the stress involved, if it happens again he is likely to close his business. How productive is that for Australia! How much would anyone on the other side of the house know or care about that sort of waste, mismanagement and profligacy?

I would like to turn to one of the most unproductive aspects of this government's behaviour over the last 4½ years—in tandem with that of the Bligh Labor government in Queensland, which has managed to end up with a downgrade on its credit rating despite record earnings from royalties from the mining industry. In terms of waste, mismanagement and profligacy the two of them deserve to be in the same bucket. Let us look at the Bruce Highway, which is the main highway running through Queensland—the main source of productive distribution of products within Queensland—and what has happened to it as a result of the many floods and cyclones we have had recently. If it were a one-in-100-year flood or cyclone, fine; you would expect problems with the highway. But that is not how it is in Queensland with the Bruce Highway. Earlier this month, the Bruce Highway was cut in three places south of Gympie. For those who do not understand Queensland geography, this is close to the major heartland of distribution throughout Queensland. From south-east Queensland to Townsville and through Gympie is one of the major traffic areas in Queensland for distributing items of transport.

I was driving from Cairns to Innisfail earlier this year. It had not rained. In fact, people were pleased that it had not rained and that a cyclone was not on the cards. But there were the flashing signs on the Bruce Highway telling you where the closures were going to be—where the road, the national highway between Brisbane and Cairns, was going to be down to a single lane. If you travelled it three or four months after the cyclones—

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