Page 3904 - Week 10 - Thursday, 28 August 2008
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MR SPEAKER: Members should not leave the chamber, although you may recall that yesterday somebody who was on a pair felt trapped.
MR MULCAHY: Well, this is the reverse scenario.
MR SPEAKER: I might have a different view.
MR MULCAHY: You will have to admonish the member.
Mr Barr: Mr Speaker, what is the standing order on members leaving the chamber to do television interviews?
MR SPEAKER: There is a quorum present.
(Quorum formed.)
MR MULCAHY: Notwithstanding a member of 19 years experience leaving the chamber to do a TV interview in the middle of a quorum call, I will resume—
MR SPEAKER: I will rouse on him when he gets back.
MR MULCAHY: Good on you. In relation to what Mr Stefaniak said before he bolted, I do share his view that this bill is being rushed with haste. By way of interjection, when Mr Stefaniak suggested the debate be adjourned, the minister said, “It ain’t gonna happen.” So, I think we have to accept the reality that the government will, once again, use its numbers to force through this legislation.
This bill is a testament to the Labor Party’s hostility to business in this town and their approach that business must look after every aspect of their workers’ lives, caring for all of them as if they were infants incapable of independent responsibility. It grants extremely strong powers to unions, and it imposes duties on employers that are onerous to the point of absolute absurdity. It does all this, it imposes these onerous duties, at a time when the Australian government is already looking at a national scheme for workplace safety. If this bill passes, employers will need to adjust their business practices to a scheme which will operate for around a year or two—probably not even that given the planned commencement date—before being modified again under the national scheme.
Mr Barr: The national scheme could be ours, Richard.
MR MULCAHY: It could be yours, Mr Barr, but you do not seem very confident of that fact given that you are rushing this through at this stage. Mr Stefaniak seems to have completely lost when he said, “Well, I don’t understand why they do not hold this over until next year seeing there’s a commencement date of next year.” It is pretty obvious to me why Mr Barr does not want to do that. He obviously has the same lack of confidence Mr Stefaniak expressed on radio yesterday when he said his party would not win a majority to govern. Mr Barr has reached the same view that he is also going to be challenged with the fact that, after 18 October, he will not have a majority
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