Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

and I think the minister at the table, Mr Lloyd, will be interested in this—that later today I will move four in-detail amendments, all about fairness, and if he cares about fairness he can vote for them. With those words I move:

That all words after “That” be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:“whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House condemns the Government’s lack of honesty about:

(1)

its plans for extreme industrial relations laws before the last election;

(2)

the impact of its inherently unfair Work Choices laws including the way these laws have:

(a)

caused the pay and conditions of individuals on Australian Workplace Agreements to be cut;

(b)

allowed good workers to be dismissed for no reason at all;

(c)

placed an unprecedented paperwork burden on small businesses; and

(d)

destroyed the independent industrial umpire;

(3)

the cost of the taxpayer polling research which apparently led the Government to dropping the term ‘Work Choices’ and bringing this Bill to the House;

(4)

the magnitude of the taxpayer funded advertising campaign to promote the Government’s political spin on industrial relations;

(5)

the fact that this Bill leaves Australians still overwhelmingly exposed to the harshness of Work Choices; and

(6)

its intention to legislate even harsher laws if re-elected”.

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