John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

That is a very good point. I am sorry I overlooked it, but Senator Cameron sometimes winds me up, because of the hypocrisy of those on the other side. They will not pay attention to or respect an umpire. I will tell you why. Go back to 1983 and the 'wide comb dispute' with shearers. I am probably the only shearer in this chamber. I say to those over there: the shearers started your party. But none of them could bend their backs and knock the wool off a sheep. There are only two shearers out of 226 parliamentarians in this building, and we are both Nationals: Andrew Broad MP and me. When the umpire made the decision in 1983 that we could use wide combs, what happened? Ernie Ecob and former senator Michael Forshaw said: 'Go on strike. Don't listen to the umpire's decision. Umpires are bad.' Those over there set up an umpire, Fair Work Australia, and they appointed the commissioners. The commissioners were appointed by the Labor Party. Then, when then the commissioners made an independent umpire's decision, those over there would not abide by the umpire's decision. Nothing has changed in the Australian Labor Party since 1983.

Let's have a good look at who is getting ripped off. Mr Bill Shorten stripped penalty rates from lowly paid cleaners with no compensation while accepting payments to his union, the Australian Workers' Union, from the company Cleanevent. Are they proud of that history? I bet—for sure! For years the unions and big business have been making agreements to cut Sunday penalty rates and even under the Labor Party we had two lots of penalty rates cuts when they were in government. Let's look at the classic examples. A bed and breakfast small business pays $10 an hour more for labour than a five-star hotel on penalty rates, a family chicken shop must pay $8 an hour more than KFC and a family owned takeaway—Senator Hanson will know about this because she comes from a small business—must pay $8 an hour more than McDonald's. Why do they stick up for McDonald's but not care about small business? Why will they not let the umpire give small business a break and employ more people? A family pizza takeaway must pay $8 an hour more than Pizza Hut and—this is the best of all—a family greengrocer must pay $5 an hour more than Woolworths. Why are they in love with big business? Why do they hate small businesses, who are the biggest employers in our country?

So we got the umpire's decision, from the umpire established by the Australian Labor Party. I remember the jubilation when I was in opposition when the legislation establishing Fair Work Australia went through the chamber. Those opposite appointed the commissioners, and they asked them to review penalty rates in four years. The commission did the review they requested when they were in government, and they do not like the answer. If they ever went to court and the judge made a decision, they would never accept the judge's decision. They would put up some stupid argument about why they were found guilty or innocent. It is unbelievable. As I said, it goes back a long time to 1983 with those opposite.

Senator Cameron is talking about 'those wealthy ones over there', such as Senator Macdonald. I remember that before I came to this place I was on $25,000 a year and living in a caravan. And we are the wealthy ones on this side? Give us a break! As I said, we are the workers on this side. You do not find shearers over on their side, despite the fact that shearers started the Australian Labor Party under the Tree of Knowledge at Barcaldine. No, no—they are just specialists at selling union tickets. They get the free ride. When the shearers were not getting paid any money back in 1983 because they had to go on strike, the union reps still got paid every week. They got the free ride. The Senator Camerons know when those situations are on. It is just amazing!

We had a situation where the Australian Labor Party set up the Fair Work Commission umpire. I want to make sure that Senator Sterle gets this message from me clearly. I am worried that he has not got it yet. They set up the umpire. Imagine if they were playing football. If the umpire gave a free kick to someone, they would walk off the field. They would not obey the umpire's decision. Well, they set up the umpires. The umpires have made a decision, and those opposite do not like it. They even appointed the umpires—the commissioners. They said to them to review the awards. Then when the decision came down against them they put on a sook, blaming us, blaming the government for their work. (Time expired)