Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023 that has just been presented to the parliament. Those on the coalition side of the chamber will always stand with the employers of Australia. Why do I say that? Because a basic fact that the Albanese Labor government just does not seem to understand is that employers create jobs. Governments don't create jobs. Governments put in place the economic framework that employers in Australia, the job creators of our country, need to lever off. They can lever off those frameworks to prosper, to grow and to create more jobs for Australians, which is what we on this side of the chamber want to see. You prosper, you grow and you create more jobs for Australians, and that means you're able to provide your employees with sustainable higher wages—or you can do what the Albanese Labor government is doing today and cut a deal with the crossbench.

I accept that a deal has been cut. We don't have the numbers in this place. We were always opposed to the bad measures in this bill, which would have a negative impact on the employers of Australia. We always said we would support those elements of the bill that did good things for Australia. That is why we had supported the splitting off by Senator Pocock and Senator Lambie of four parts of the bill which we said we would happily have passed today.

This is a devastating day for Australian businesses. Once again, the Albanese Labor government—and it's becoming more and more evident every single day—having said a lot about transparency before the election, having said that they would hold themselves high and that this would be a government like no other government when it came to transparency, has done a deal with the crossbench before the Australian Senate has even been given an opportunity to properly scrutinise this bill.

Let's have a look at it. If Australian employers are not the winners today, guess what? That only means one thing for Australian employees. They're also not going to be the winners. You see, whilst employers need employees—it's a basic fact of life—employees also need employers. It's the employers who have the business. It's the employers who provide the employees with the job. It's the employers that pay the employees' wages. So I would have thought you'd stand up for the employers in Australia, because in standing up for the employers in Australia you actually stand up for the employees in Australia.

But there is some good news today. Of course, there's got to be good news. Good God—good grief—they wouldn't have done a deal if there wasn't some good news. So, congratulations! Give a big clap, everybody, to the ACTU and the Australian union movement, because, once again, you get one of your long list of demands. I have to say, it was a very impressive list of demands—nine years in the making, in fact, and 18 months in the delivery. Give those across the chamber credit! If you want to deliver for the unions, use your numbers and deliver for them—the unions who stand for themselves, the unions who stand for the Australian Labor Party. To the employers and, ultimately, the employees in Australia—guess what? You are nothing more and nothing less then a casualty of the deal that has been done today.

It's a deal that, as I said, has been rushed into this chamber. I give you zero out of 10 points, Mr Albanese and Mr Dreyfus, when it comes to the transparency that you trumpeted before the election. That's zero out of 10 for standing up for the employers of Australia. But, I have to say, I'm not going to give you 10 out of 10 for standing up for the unions. I am going to give you bonus points. That is what we're seeing today—a deal struck with the crossbench, with Senator Lambie and Senator Pocock, to allow the unions in Australia access to workers around Australia and their businesses. They are the great winners out of the deal today. At its simplest, this is a government seeking to deliver a union agenda.

The measures that we had in this bill—some will go through today and some, I assume, will go through next year—were designed for nothing more and nothing less than to deliver on declining union membership in Australia. Why do I say that? I say it because it is a fact. Union membership in Australia is at an all-time low. Okay, we accept that. So, when something so important to them is at an all-time low, what do they do? They abolish those forms of employment that can't be unionised. The union movement in Australia has long been hostile towards the labour hire sector. Why is that? Because people actually choose to work labour hire. They choose to exercise their right not to work for an employer. They choose to exercise their right to work in a fashion that they want to. In so doing, in exercising that choice, guess what? They don't join a union. So what do the government do? They attack labour hire in Australia and deliver for their union mates.

What will be the effect of what is going to happen today on employers across Australia? In the first instance, what I'd say is that the business community, along with the coalition, have always supported bringing forward measures that would improve worker safety. In fact, we were the ones that worked with the crossbench to split the bill and bring those elements on. It was Mr Burke who stood up in the parliament and in the press and said that under no circumstances would he ever split this bill. Given an opportunity to deliver on a union agenda, though, we don't need to worry about what he may have said in the parliament or in the media. The fact is that, today, he has done a spectacular backflip—10 out of 10 and an Olympic gold medal for the backflip that has been done. Guess what? The bill that we are debating today is a bill that, ironically, has actually split the fair work amendment bill in two.

But, as I said, it's a devastating day for Australian businesses. It is a devastating day for the Australian businesses that are going to be impacted by the changes to labour hire in this country. As I said, businesses create jobs. Employers create jobs. Employees need employers. Employers need employees. If you as a government put in place an economic framework that allows an employer and their business to prosper and grow, they are able to create more jobs for Australians. Guess what? In prospering and growing, they are able to create more sustainable, high-paying jobs for Australians. That is certainly not what this element of the bill is going to do today.

Merry Christmas to those employers across Australia who will be affected by this. I am going to call it a dirty deal because it is a dirty deal. I don't have a problem that a deal has been done. Deals get done in this place. What I do have a problem with is that the Senate had agreed that we would be able to inquire into and scrutinise this bill. We all knew that it would go through next year at some stage but only after it had been properly scrutinised. What I do have a problem with 18 months into the Albanese Labor government is that they trumpeted about transparency from the highest rafter before the election and yet time after time all we see now is a failure to answer anything basic in relation to their agenda.

Today is a perfect example, Mr Burke stood up. We all know why Mr Burke had to stand up with—good God!—the train wreck in relation to immigration. A fourth detainee released by this government has been charged by police. You can see why they had to create a distraction. I have no issue with that. But why did they compromise the employers of Australia? Their own incompetence has led to the immigration debacle. It's because of three ministers and the Prime Minister, who is conveniently hiding. The Attorney-General, Minister Giles and Minister O'Neil compromised the safety and security of Australians. It has had a devastating effect on Australia and Australians. It's had a devastating effect on those Australians who have now been offended against by the people that this government released. But do they have to stand up in an attempt to distract from the train wreck which is the handling of the NZYQ case and say to the employers of Australia, 'We are prepared to compromise you,' given, in particular, the state of the economy at the moment?

Industrial relations changes are incredibly important. In fact, I would argue that they are some of the most important changes and economic reforms an Australian government can make. The focus of any industrial relations reforms should be to make us more productive and to create more higher-paying, sustainable jobs. Those on the other side—and clearly the crossbench now, because yes, Senator Pocock and Senator Lambie, you are part of this deal—are delivering on the four elements of your bill that we supported you on. But by standing up here today with those opposite, given everything you have publicly said, you are now tarred by the same brush. So, the next time an employer speaks to you and ask why, I hope you've got a very good reason for why you were prepared to deliver this to them as a Christmas present from Senator Lambie, Senator Pocock, the Australia Greens—expect nothing less—and the Australia Labor Party.

We backed you every step of the way in relation to the four measures that you wanted split off. It was Mr Burke who wouldn't. Why? I hope you disclose the deal that's been done today, because why would you stand here on the final day of the parliament for 2023 and walk back everything you have said to date? Why would you hand this, on the altar of the Australian Labor Party, to employers in this country who are affected by this, when they haven't had an opportunity to properly put their case? Merry Christmas to the Australian employers affected by this bill. Merry Christmas to the Australian workers whose employers will be affected by this bill.

What do Australians actually need? Well, (a) they need a government that has their back. In the last three weeks, what have the Anthony Albanese Labor government shown Australians? I tell you, when it comes to your safety and security, Australia, I wouldn't take these people into battle with me. I know that if I had to look behind me they probably wouldn't be there. They don't care about the safety and security of Australians. They've made that very, very clear. They are prepared to make excuse after excuse after excuse for how they have compromised the safety and security of Australians over the past almost four weeks.

Then today, in an effort to distract from what everybody across Australia knows, there is this complete, total and utter trainwreck. As I said, I've got no issues about a deal being done; deals get done in this place. I would have thought it would have been nice, though, if a deal had been done, to put through the four elements of the bill that we all agree on. But instead, today those employers and those employees affected by this productivity-sapping measure are being given a merry Christmas from Senator Lambie, Senator Pocock and the Australian Labor Party. The economy we have at the moment in this country is a picture of middle Australia being crushed. Regarding everything that Anthony Albanese, the now Prime Minister, promised Australians before the election: on lower interest rates, you've got higher interest rates; on lower inflation, you've got persistently high inflation; on rents, people can't even afford to rent at the moment. And don't even get me started on energy prices.

So, well done on sacrificing the employers of Australia and ultimately the employees who'll be affected by this productivity-sapping measure. Merry Christmas! (Time expired)