TRANSCRIPT - DOORSTOP - 7 NOVEMBER

TRANSCRIPT

DOORSTOP

7 NOVEMBER

E&OE

Subject/s: Industrial Relations Legislation, Parliamentary Debate

FLETCHER: Labor is wanting to use this week to ram industrial relations legislation through the House of Representatives. This industrial relations legislation is Labor dancing to the tune of the union bosses. At a time when Australians are facing sharp increases in power prices, 56% over the next two years, this government needs to be prioritising getting energy prices under control, it needs to be prioritising cost of living. Instead, we are seeing Labor using its numbers in the House of Representatives to ram through the House, radical industrial relations legislation, doing what the union bosses want, it’ll mean more strikes, it’ll mean unions coming into small businesses that have never been there before, it’ll drive up prices, and it is a recipe for chaos in our economy. Labor should allow the House of Representatives to do its proper job, to scrutinise this legislation, this is 249 pages of legislation, it gets rid of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, which means the militant CFMEU will be able to ride rough shot on building sites around the country, it makes a whole series of changes, it introduces pattern bargaining all across the economy. It means multi-employer, multi-worksite bargaining, this means unions getting in small businesses where they have never been before. It’ll mean more strikes, it is bad news for the economy, and there is a real question, why is Labor wanting to use its numbers to ram this through the House of Representatives. Labor needs to stand up for ordinary Australians, rather than the union bosses, and the Coalition calls on Labor to allow this to be properly debated in the House of Representatives, rather than being rammed through in an undemocratic fashion, without allowing time for proper scrutiny.