Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Hansard source

With respect, that's completely incorrect. I have just put to you a particular case. I have literally got off the phone from a Geelong manufacturer—the Chief Executive Officer and proprietor—who has said to me that if this business was required to bargain with Viva Energy and match the terms and conditions that are offered by Viva Energy to its employees, which include up to two years of severance pay, then that business will be forced to close because it cannot carry that level of contingent liability. Again, this is not a hypothetical. How will you give manufacturers in the Geelong region the certainty that they will not be placed in that situation, so that they can have certainty as to their future?