The Prime Minister may have been in our great state recently trying to sooth Western Australians and convince us that his Government cares about our great State but his record of broken promises should have all Western Australians questioning which ones he will actually keep.
For example, Prime Minister Albanese keeps assuring Western Australians that he won’t touch the GST deal delivered by the previous Coalition Government which finally gave our State a fair share.
Can we really believe that? It’s exactly what he said, over and over again, about the stage 3 tax cuts.
Mr Albanese’s visit came at a time when alarming signs of economic headwinds for are starting to show.
The unemployment rate in Western Australia rose in January to 4.2 per cent and we also learned of the threat to the jobs of 3300 workers at BHP’s Nickel West project. Those jobs are in addition to 1200 workers at five other nickel miners which have previously announced plans to close or scale down production.
But despite these and other challenges in our mining and resources industry the Albanese Government keeps making decisions that make things more difficult.
The ideological default position of this Labor Government is to impose more regulation, complexity and ultimately costs onto the job creators of Australia.
That is certainly what we have seen as they’ve pushed through radical changes to our workplace system in three tranches of legislation since December 2022.
The so-called “same job, same pay” provisions in the first tranche were a direct attack on Western Australia’s mining and resources companies.
And things got no better last week with the latest workplace laws which include “the right to disconnect” – an absurd law that dictates to bosses when they can and cannot contact their own employees.
This law severely undermines flexibility and does nothing to increase productivity in our workplaces.
Labor is happy to add complexity and red tape to an already burdensome system, which is exactly what the Loopholes Bill did.
The outcome of the “right to disconnect” is that workers are likely to lose some of the flexibilities that have come to characterise the modern workplace. Those flexibilities have been beneficial to both employees and employers.
But with the Albanese Government making it a potential offence for employers to contact their employers outside of work hours, many businesses will be forced to ensure their employees are in the office for their standard 9 to 5 workday.
Issues relating to flexibility should be worked out between bosses and workers in a way to benefit everyone involved. During the pandemic, most workplaces around Australia managed these arrangements very well. It is not something that needs to be legislated. The Coalition will repeal this law when in Government.
Other parts of the legislation will create extreme uncertainty for businesses which employ casual workers, particularly small businesses.
At a time of a cost-of-living crisis, high inflation, businesses struggling with staff shortages and rapidly increasing power costs, Labor are making a bad situation worse.
The problem is there is nothing in their legislation designed to improve productivity, jobs, growth, and investment which are the ingredients of a successful economy.
Labor’s radical industrial relations agenda will ultimately be bad for the workers of this nation because it will mean fewer jobs.
Small and medium sized businesses employ millions of hard-working Australians across regions, towns, cities, and in every sector. These businesses should not be burdened with additional constraints and costs.
Industrial relations reform is one of the most important of all the economic reforms. It is required to make Australia more productive, competitive and to ensure all Australians enjoy greater prosperity.
Increased productivity comes from working smarter – not longer – and using all the tools at our disposal to make our workplaces more effective, efficient, and innovative.
When businesses increase productivity, they have the ability to increase wages more quickly, and importantly in a sustainable way. Increased productivity will increase job security and also helps to keep interest rates and inflation in check.
As we move close to the next election the Coalition is carefully consulting with a wide range of stakeholders as we formulate workplace relations policies.
Our aim will be to make it easier for businesses to employ Australians and run successful businesses – not more difficult as Labor is doing with their ideological agenda.
Small businesses need flexibility to be able to run their operations effectively, not rigid rules that make things harder for everyone including employees.
Any industrial relations changes we pursue will seek to provide simplified compliance, fairness, cost-effectiveness and support for growth and productivity.
Increasing productivity and cutting red tape for small businesses, will be central to everything the Coalition does in workplace policies.
The country needs a modern workplace relations system that delivers a safety net for workers, recognises the shared interests of managers and workers in an enterprise’s success, and gives all enterprises the agility they need to compete and succeed.
Any changes we make to workplace laws will improve productivity, grow wages, and enhance competition. These are the key ingredients of a successful economy.
Importantly, the Coalition understands the unique contribution of Western Australia to the nation, particularly from this States mining and resources industry.
We will formulate policies to help those industries and Western Australia thrive and we won’t go back on our word.