Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

What the Labor Party does not understand is that, in order to keep the economy strong, in order to keep the economy prosperous, governments have to make decisions that are in the national interest and not in the interests of the union bosses. Four out of five workers in Australia choose not to join the unions because the unions are more about the interests of the union bosses than they are about the workers. We are about the interests of the workers. The Australian Bureau of Statistics latest data figures have indicated that since the introduction of the new laws real wages have gone up 1.5 per cent. In the 13 years of Labor, real wages went backwards 1.8 per cent. The ABS statistics illustrate that since the laws were introduced the number of jobs created—

See this speech in context