Sky News Credlin
Topics: Same Job, Same Pay Bill
27 June 2023
E&OE.
Credlin
But let’s go to that IR backlash. Tony Burke, the IR Minister, has had to ditch his ‘Same Job, Same Pay’ slogan, try and rebrand it to get support, and get it through the parliament. I call it lipstick on a pig. Let’s see what the Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Senate Michaelia Cash thinks of it. Michaelia, welcome to the program. Does a rebranding fix the problem? What’s your opposition to these laws about? What’s driving your complaint?
Senator Cash
Well in the first instance, Peta, your opening comment is correct: lipstick on a pig. And it’s like Tony Burke has actually cast himself as a character in a Hollowmen episode. I’ve listened to the overwhelming feedback from business, they tell me the policy is going to be a disaster, and so the solution I put forward, wait for it, is to change the name of the policy. If it wasn’t so serious, it would be laughable. What’s this all about? Peta, as you and I know, the Australian labour market is a diverse labour market. It provides different forms of work for people of different circumstances and of different needs. The Labor Party hate any form of diverse work. Why? Because they believe that the only good job is a job where you work for someone else and you answer to a union boss. So let’s be very clear about what this agenda is about. It is literally about getting rid of any form of diverse work within the Australian labour market and basically increasing the number of people who are in a union. Let’s call a spade a spade.
Credlin
Given the economic circumstances we find ourselves in, Michaelia, this would be a pretty bad time to bring in these sort of widespread laws. We’ve already seen with the multi-employer bargaining stuff go through the parliament last year, it’s had unintended consequences in recent months. Add this into the mix, I don’t know that it’s a smart move is it?
Senator Cash
Peta, one of the key words missing from the Labor Party’s industrial relations agenda is productivity. There is no mention of productivity in anything that they do. You’ve got rising interest rates, you’ve got persistently high inflation, you’ve got two major banks now forecasting a per capita recession. Why would you wrap businesses up in red tape? Businesses create jobs, governments don’t. Governments put in place policy frameworks that can either assist businesses in prospering and growing and creating more jobs or- and the Labor Party is going down the ‘or’ path, Peta. This will not bode well for Australians nor for the employers of this country.
Credlin
Look, it’s been a long time since businesses got off the woke agenda and actually started to argue for stuff that impacts their bottom line. They’ve had a real spine on this issue, where’s the crossbench on it?
Senator Cash
Yeah look, it’s a really good question. A number of the crossbenchers last time did support multi-employer bargaining. This time, all I’d say to the crossbench, in particular in the Senate, is this: listen to the job creators of this country. If the job creators of this country have come together as one, small business, medium business, large business, you know, the construction industry, they are all saying the same thing. This policy will be detrimental and not just for them. If it’s detrimental for them, it’s detrimental for the employees of this country. Employees need employers, and when the employers of Australia are saying to Australians, but also to the Australian Labor Party, “Please listen to us, please listen to us. We want to be able to prosper, grow and create more jobs and all you are doing is going to wrap us up in red tape which ultimately means we will not be as prosperous, which means we will probably end up having to lay people off”. All I’d say to the crossbench is give business a fair hearing, they are the job creators of this country. I often say, Peta, as you know, the closest thing so many members of the Labor Party have ever come to when it comes to a business is to close it down. And that’s not something that I’d be proud of.
Credlin
Senator Michaelia Cash, thank you.
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