Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

There is an historic struggle under way in this country in the industrial relations arena. There is an epic battle over whether Australians in the future will be forced to live to work or to choose to work to live. We in the Labor Party say Australian families ought to be able to work to live. The government’s Work Choices will force Australians to live to work. Both Labor and coalition parties agree that we need to be productive to maintain and enhance our standard of living, our quality of life. But only Labor believe it can be done without taking an axe to employment conditions and employment protection. It was Labor that ushered in the country’s modern economy. It was Labor that made the hard decisions to effect the structural changes necessary to produce the last 18 years of economic growth. It was Labor that shifted industrial negotiations from central wage fixing to enterprise bargaining. It was Labor—opposed by the coalition—that introduced compulsory superannuation to ensure Australian working families had a certain future.

When Labor devolved our industrial relations system, we put in protections for employees. Work Choices rips these protections away. Work Choices shifts all power to employers. Work Choices makes lawful what rogue employers have been doing unlawfully. Work Choices goes after unions and does not care who gets hurt in the process. This is all about putting Howard’s ideological obsession before fairness and common decency.

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