Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked today by opposition senators.

We had quite an interesting question time today, with lots of talk of psychics, spiritual healers, shamans and the like, and I couldn't help but wonder, with all of this talk of seeing into the future, if only the government had had a crystal ball back in May, because then they might've actually foreseen some semblance of an economic plan they could bring to the Australian people to try and solve some of these very difficult problems we currently see before us. Throughout the election campaign we heard on multiple occasions the now Prime Minister, Mr Albanese, and his Labor colleagues tell Australians they'd cut the cost of living. They told everyone that their household costs would come down and their wages would go up. They promised Australians would see a $275 reduction in their power bills—not a subsidy, a concession or a one-off payment; they said that's what your power bills would go down by. Yet in the recent budget Labor itself is forecasting power price rises of more than 30 per cent.

Labor's IR bill will only add to those cost-of-living pressures. Yesterday media outlets reported:

… food manufacturers and distributors … warned the legislation would push up grocery prices and worsen the cost of living crisis.

It is clear that Labor's IR changes will adversely affect hundreds and thousands of Australian businesses, and we know that small businesses are going to be hit the hardest. Instead of thinking about the hardworking Australians who own and operate small businesses around this country and instead of focusing on delivering cost-of-living relief to Australians before Christmas, which we know is on its way, the government's only focus is giving the unions an early Christmas present.

It's quite amazing how quickly Labor's tone changed after they won the election and took office. In the election campaign, it was all about reducing the cost of living, and, as soon as they were elected, all we've heard from the Treasurer is commentary on how bad the global economy is, commentary on how none of it's their fault and a pursuit of the niche issues to appease their union mates. The Labor Party were more than happy to attack the former government for economic conditions right through three years of the worldwide COVID pandemic, but now, after being elected, all we hear is an attempt to set a narrative that nothing is their fault: 'It's the war in Ukraine.' 'It's inflation in the United States and the United Kingdom.' 'It's international supply chains.' Governing is about dealing with these events. Sometimes it is hard, but you have to deal with them. That is your responsibility.

Yet, after waxing lyrical about how they were going to reduce the cost of living, Australians have been left fuming at the lack of action from this government, which is now pursuing legislation in the form of an IR bill that will only deliver higher cost-of-living pressures for Australian families and for Australian businesses. As we heard today, the Albanese government's own regulatory impact statement, if it's to be believed, shows that Labor's legislation will cost small businesses more than $14,600 in bargaining costs including consultancy fees, however calculated. For medium businesses, that cost is going to be more than $75,000, but we know the actual cost could in fact be much higher than that. Let's not forget that according to the government a medium business is defined as having any more than 15 employees.

The question remains: how is the government going to respond to the challenges of the day and deliver on the hard and fast promises they made to cut the cost of living for Australians? Like I said, there was no shortage of promises made by Labor to do so. Australians didn't hear the Labor Party saying, 'We'll cut the cost of living as long as the war in Ukraine ends, as long as the US economy is strong and everything else is well around the world.' They said that they would cut the cost of living, lower your power bills by hundreds of dollars—not raise them by 40 per cent and then, hopefully, take a few dollars off down the track. Australians definitely didn't hear the Prime Minister or Labor proposed these radical industrial relations laws, because they never took this policy to the last election. It amounts to another broken promise from Labor.

Labor's changes will mean a weaker economy. Labor's changes will mean higher cost-of-living pressures for Australian families. Labor's changes will put the interests of union bosses ahead of hard-working Australians and our economy. Labor is more than happy to leave our construction industry and its more than 400,000 small businesses at the mercy of the militant CFMMEU. By abolishing the ABCC, Labor have opened the door for more strikes, fewer jobs and unprecedented access to small business. It will have a devastating impact on our economy, resulting in higher business costs. Addressing the cost-of-living pressures doesn't even register anymore.