Page 2638 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 14 October 1992
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What does the Canberra Chamber of Commerce have to say? I heard a comment before that business organisations have not complained. The Canberra Chamber of Commerce, in its September 1992 bulletin, after explaining what this legislation does, says that it has been introduced "without consultation with the private sector - - -
Mr Connolly: Rubbish!
MR WESTENDE: It is in print, my dear friend. It says that the legislation has been introduced:
Without regard to employment ceilings which may be thrust onto small business to avoid the oncosts of forming Designated Work Groups! Without regard to increased administration and staff time required by small Business.
I warn members on the other side that the employee often loses his job, but he still has a roof over his head. The employer, on the other hand, may go down the drain. What we have to try to do is to keep both in place. That is the only way we are going to get jobs.
Many on the opposite side might be thinking that this is an extreme response to the Bill. However, we have all heard the saying about the straw that broke the camel's back. This Bill, I am suggesting, does exactly that. It is just one more impost on employers. It is one more thing to abide by, or look out. It is one more reason not to expand or even to get into business. Have you talked to those businesses that now employ nine people? They would think twice about hiring an additional one or two people. This Bill is one more spoke in the wheel of the employer-employee relationship.
Mr Connolly: That is what they said about stopping kids going down the mines.
Mr Berry: "We'll all be rooned", they said as we took the kids out of the pits.
Mr Connolly: Exactly. They have been saying this for 200 years.
MR WESTENDE: I can hear members jumping to the conclusion that I am advocating jobs at all costs, even at the risk of safety. I am not. In fact, I am advocating the opposite. This Government, by the very nature of this Bill, is saying that employers are stupid; that you have to tell them everything; and that, if they do not do what you want, you must punish them. Members opposite would not know what it was to run a business, so it would be fair to say that they do not know about the repercussions of overregulation and taxation. In the pursuit of looking after the interests of the workers the Government is blinkered when it comes to the big picture, for in the end the main interest of the workers must be continued employment.
The problem with the labour movement is that it has lost its plot. It used to be interested in the working conditions of its members, and that was a just cause. However, it has come a long way now, and it is time for the labour movement to take stock of its agenda. When unemployment is running so high, surely jobs must be its No. 1 priority. But, no, this is not always apparent. The labour movement still likes to push, push, push the employer, who is the risk taker. The employer is the one who really puts everything on the line - and I mean everything.
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