Malcolm Turnbull has forgotten how business works

BUSINESSSPECTATOR
APRIL 11, 2016
Our founding fathers knew that one day the Australian parliament would engage in massive politicking endangering the national interest so they set up a constitution that would enable the High Court to rectify the damage, and rectify it quickly.
That day has come and the parliament now threatens the livelihood of tens of thousands of small enterprises and a large number of farmers.
The Prime Minister recognises what is going to happen, but wants to make it an election issue. We need the High Court to act as a matter of urgency.
I hasten to add that I am no constitutional expert and only the High Court can determine the power of the constitution, but the legal people I have spoken to say there is a very good case and that, given the community damage created by the parliamentary games, it requires quick action.
The disaster was created when former prime minister Julia Gillard set up a Commonwealth body (The Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal) that has set prices that owner-driver truckies must charge (two or three times current rates) but not set prices for large transport groups using transport worker union employees. And if the owner-drivers don’t lift their prices by the enormous amounts specified, then the drivers and customers will be heavily fined.
The theory is that if a farmer pays a lot more for transport then it will be safer. That’s nonsense. The aim of the action is to have the TWU and large operators dominate transport.
Normally, all major parties would come to the aid of the owner drivers but the ALP and the Greens are so dependent on union cash that they dare not stand in the way.
We have a Prime Minister who is playing blatant political games. The Prime Minister says that he will wait until the election before introducing legislation that will abolish the tribunal. Once upon a time, Malcolm Turnbull understood the business community. Unfortunately, he has forgotten how small business works.
Once the sword of execution stands over a business, in this case the owner-drivers, then they can’t get finance, so their business fails quickly.
The Prime Minister says there is no point in introducing legislation abolishing the tribunal because the crossbenchers won’t support it.
Well let’s put the legislation to abolish up and if the crossbenchers do oppose it — and I know of three who will back it — then it’s on their heads.
What the Commonwealth body has done is so outrageous and so pro-union/ big company that I can’t think of any crossbencher willing to bankrupt 35,000 people.
But if the banning legislation can’t pass and there has been a real effort, then blame is on the crossbenchers, the ALP and Greens union stooges.
But instead, as he did with the state taxes, our Prime Minister is once again playing games trying to have this as an issue at the election. He doesn’t realise that people are going to be bankrupted on the way.
I still hope that National Party Leader Barnaby Joyce will go it alone and introduce the legislation to ban the body. When his Coalition partner attacks the support base of the National Party, then it is time to act against them.
But if Barnaby Joyce doesn’t do the right thing by farmers, then I think independents will take most of the marginal National seats in the next election. It’s the farmers who have to pay the high transport rates and will be fined heavily if they don’t.
As I understand it, the founding fathers gave the community three possible ways that the actions of the tribunal can be declared unconstitutional — the Commonwealth does not have the pricing power, the restraint of trade clauses and, of course, the Commonwealth is effectively confiscating people’s property.
It is possible that the Commonwealth will not oppose the High Court application by the Independent Contractors Association, thus assisting a speedy resolution.
I can only hope that the chaos in parliament and the people who will suffer because of that chaos will cause the High Court to act quickly — exactly as the founding fathers envisaged.
I have written a number of previous articles on this subject (Xenophon has been hopelessly misled, April 7; How the crossbench can avert a disaster, April 4; A plea to the Senate crossbenchers, March 31; The high toll of punishing truckies, March 30 and Truckies are on the road to ruin, March 29).