TRANSCRIPT – ABC RADIO GOLD COAST – BREAKFAST

Angie Bell MP
Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education
Shadow Minister for Youth
Federal Member for Moncrieff

TRANSCRIPT
ABC RADIO GOLD COAST – BREAKFAST

14 November 2022

Subjects: Pan Pacific Masters, Labor’s IR Bill, COVID-19

 E&OE………………………………………….

 SALLY ROPE:
Angie Bell is our Federal Member for Moncrieff here, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Shadow Minister for Youth. Each week around this time we catch up with one of our federal MPs, this morning it is Ms Bell. Hello.

ANGIE BELL MP:
Good morning, Sally. How are you today? Thanks for having me.

SALLY ROPE:
No worries. I saw that you were out and about on the weekend at the Pan Pacific Masters baseball.

ANGIE BELL MP:
Absolutely. Four out of four gold medals for Surfers Paradise Baseball Club. They hosted the Pan Pacific Games, and it was fantastic for our City. I think there was about 14,000 people that came to the city for the competition. Very, very proud of Steve and Tony, the volunteers there at Surfers Paradise Baseball Club yesterday, it was just terrific to see.

SALLY ROPE:
Are you someone who was perhaps good at sport in their younger years?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Well, I try. It was one of those things that we have to do, not all of us enjoy too much exercise but I hack away at it daily.

SALLY ROPE:
I just find it really fascinating because I was always terrible at sports. So, you know some people I just feel like I just get a vibe they might have been good and I reckon you would have been good.

ANGIE BELL MP:
Well, on Aus Music Monday, I have to say music was my thing, and sport was really just something that I had to do.

SALLY ROPE:
Now, the Government’s industrial relations bill, the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill, has passed the lower house, it now moves to the Senate. The Government says it will promote wage growth and prevent lengthy industrial action. Now, the Opposition voted against the bill, along with some of the teal independents, what were your main issues with the bill?

ANGIE BELL MP:
This bill is absolutely bad news for our local economy here on the Gold Coast because it particularly impacts small business, and as you know and your listeners know, there are over 60,000 small businesses here on the Gold Coast. Industry wide bargaining, this will open the door to that into small business. Any business that has 15 staff that is full time part time or full time, 15 headcount, as Labor like to call it, will be exposed to this sort of union door knocking.  It is not good news for our local economy, and it will slow down the economy.

SALLY ROPE:
Some of the parts of the bill include gender equality in terms of pay, prohibiting sexual harassment in the Fair Work Act, adding breastfeeding gender identity and intersex status as protected attributes, contains more provisions for flexible work agreement, surely those are not bad things?

ANGIE BELL MP:
The overall bill Sally is a disaster for our economy moving forward. Look, nobody wants to see wages stagnate, everybody wants to see a safe workplace. But these are not the major flaws with this bill, the major flaws are outlined by Labor, because they put forward 150 of their own amendments to their own bill. You’re quite right that the Independents on the crossbench did put forward amendments and the Coalition put forward amendments, and the Labor Party simply will not listen to any of the problems in this bill. They’re now taking it through to the Senate. It’s blatantly the Labor Party paying back the unions for the $100 million since 2007 we’ve seen the unions give the Australian Labor Party, and it’s now for time for payback.

SALLY ROPE:
It’s interesting though, this is a constant talking point from the LNP is the unions, unions, unions, but you know, union members are also nurses, they’re also hospitality workers. It’s not just the CFMEU, which is obviously the main one that takes a lot of attention. You know, there are unions of all types, teachers, you know. I mean, how are employees being supported, and perhaps getting information that they might need to get better conditions for themselves? How was that bad?

ANGIE BELL MP:
As I said, nobody wants wages to stagnate. Everybody wants to see wages moving, but the Coalition doesn’t believe that this bill is the way to do it. I mean, 150 amendments, that the Labor Party has put forward themselves on their own bill, they’re rushing it through the House. There hasn’t been proper consultation with small business. You know, even COSBOA has actually pulled their support for this bill after speaking with the Labor Party, and after understanding the ramifications across the economy, particularly for small businesses. So, this is not a good bill. It’s not good for our economy. Certainly, we understand that the Australian public wants to see wages moving. This is not a fight against those mums and dads who are union members, but this is simply Labor making sure that they pay back those debts that they owe the unions. It’s just so blatant, there’s nothing subtle about it.

SALLY ROPE:
On Gold Coast Morning speaking with Angie Bell, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Shadow Minister for Youth and Federal Member for Moncrieff here on the Gold Coast. Senator David Pocock looks to be the important vote on this and he’s urged for the bill to be split, allowing the low paid bargaining parts to pass in 2022. Would that be something that the Libs will be amenable to?

ANGIE BELL MP:
We’ll put forward amendments in the Senate as we did in the House. But I don’t see Labor listening to any of the amendments that were put forward because Labor simply don’t care about small business. They simply don’t care about mum and dad businesses that hold up the economy here on the Gold Coast and that they are the businesses who will suffer under this legislation. The Coalition opposes this bill in its entirety. It’s a bad bill. It’s bad for the economy, bad for families, it’s bad for employers, and it’s bad ultimately for employees.

SALLY ROPE:
But Mum and Dad businesses need employees that are happy and that are well paid and have good conditions, though. Those are no businesses without employees.

ANGIE BELL MP:
Well, there’s no employees without businesses, either. This is something that the Australian Labor Party don’t understand is that if you break the system of small business to the point where small businesses simply can’t afford to exist, then we’ll see doors closing and job losses as a consequence.

SALLY ROPE:
There’s also the argument that if you’re a small business that can’t afford to pay your employees properly and have proper working conditions, then perhaps you shouldn’t be employing people in the first place.

ANGIE BELL MP:
So would you like to see unemployment go up and small businesses close on the Gold Coast?

SALLY ROPE:
That’s not what I’m saying. I’m just saying that, you know, that employees have should have rights as well. And there is an argument that if you can’t pay your employees properly, properly, then you shouldn’t be in business anyway.

ANGIE BELL MP:
There are currently awards in place and if businesses don’t pay their employees properly, the awards is what protects them. I understand that the service industries want to see wages increase, but this is simply not the way to do it in terms of what the Labor Party are doing here with bad legislation that is not prepared properly, that is getting rammed through the House, simply because they have their own agenda to pay back the unions and get it done by Christmas. Let’s be clear about this Sal, there was no mandate from the Labor Party on this bill. It wasn’t even mentioned before the election.

SALLY ROPE:
Some of it were their election promises though.

ANGIE BELL MP:
They did not outline an IR bill. If you have a look through Anthony Albanese’s speech at the Press Club before the election, there was no mention on an IR bill. There were simply motherhood statements of increasing wages.

SALLY ROPE:
Angie Bell is who are talking to, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Shadow Minister for Youth, Federal Member for Moncrieff here on the Gold Coast. The fourth wave of COVID has officially hit Queensland according to the Chief Health Officer. Queensland officially changing its traffic light system to amber last week with masks recommended again indoors, on public transport and the like. What are your thoughts on that?

ANGIE BELL MP:
The Chief Medical Officer has confirmed that we are in a fourth wave of COVID. I think Gold Coasters and Australians know what to do, we need to wash our hands, we need to socially distance, we need to mask up, you know when we’re on public transport, on the bus or the Q- Link (sic. G-Link), and we need to make sure we understand where we’re up to with the fourth wave. The Prime Minister and the Premier really need to be very transparent around the advice that they’re receiving and where we’re up to. Health and safety and wellbeing of Australians has to come first.

SALLY ROPE:
When you’re out and about talking to your constituents in Moncrieff, small business owners, what kind of vibe do you get in terms of COVID? Do you think that Queenslanders, Gold Coasters have been a little bit complacent or kind of think that maybe COVID over?

ANGIE BELL MP:
This has been a very, very difficult time here on the Gold Coast for the last couple of years. COVID has really impacted our economy with a big body blow and it’s really only because of JobKeeper and the instant asset write off and the cashflow boost that we’ve gotten through to this stage, and I think that there’s a level of fatigue across small business. You know staffing is a problem. Local cafes are working in their own kitchens as opposed to hiring staff because they can’t find chefs, they can’t find service industry people to work in their businesses. It’s a difficult time and I think there’s a lot of fatigue on the Gold Coast about COVID and the impact that it’s had.

SALLY ROPE:
Angie Bell, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Shadow Minister for Youth, Federal Member for Moncrieff. Thank you again for joining us on ABC Gold Coast. We’ll chat with you in a couple of weeks.

ANGIE BELL MP:
It’s always a pleasure. Thanks Sally.

[ends]