The peak body for Australian farmers has warned changes to the country’s workplace laws would impact grocery prices and essential supply chains due to increased strike actions.
The National Farmers’ Federation told a Senate committee examining the new industrial relations laws that producers would be directly hit by the changes proposed.
The bill, which passed the lower house on Thursday, would enshrine multi-employer bargaining, as well as aim to lift the rate of pay in feminised industries.
The federation’s workforce committee chair Tony York said the farming sector had faced challenges in recent years in getting enough labour.
While the federation welcomed parts of the law changes, Mr York said small businesses could be forced into new agreements, which could affect the agricultural sector.
“We are most concerned effectively about the potential for widespread industrial action shutting down supply chains and processing sectors, they are of direct consequence to farmers,” Mr York told the committee.
“It’s not just a monetary consequence; you'd lose the opportunity to have continuity of supply ... and there are even animal welfare issues that can come into effect if we have widespread strike action.”
Such strike action would also lead to higher prices at the supermarket checkout for groceries, the federation warned.
The peak body also criticised the time frame for the bill’s examination, saying more time was needed for the full effects of the laws to be scrutinised.
“I do think that the government is treating the parliamentary processes with some degree of contempt by rushing this through,” Mr York said.
However, the committee’s chair, Labor senator Tony Sheldon, hit back, saying the fears of a strike were nothing but hysteria and a scare campaign.
“The track record of (the agriculture sector) in dealing with minimum wages in various sectors of this industry has been appalling,” he said.
“You tend to have some very definitive views about the legislation for somebody that doesn’t have a view about the legislation because you don’t know what’s in it.”
The government will still face hurdles for the bill to pass the upper house, with both the Greens and at least one senator needed for support.
The inquiry is set to wrap up before the legislation is introduced to the Senate later this month.
While the government wants the laws passed by the end of the year, there are just eight sitting days left before parliament rises for the summer break.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the government had the mandate to implement the reforms quickly.
“This is legislation which makes industrial relations fairer in the workplace and encourages employers, their workers, unions, employer organisations to get round the table to get better, more productive deals going,” he told the Nine Network.
However, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the laws would have a negative impact on small businesses.
“I’m not sure yet that small businesses fully understand the impact on their businesses and the fact that it takes away from them the ability to negotiate and puts it in the hands of the unions, with Fair Work Australia,” he said.
