Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Wentworth for his question. I think the first thing to be said is that Australian working families deserve a fair and balanced industrial relations system, and they will get one from the Rudd government. They will get a fair and balanced industrial relations system. Those on the other side are pretty famous for making all sorts of ridiculous statements about industrial relations systems, interest rates and wages. All through last year the member for North Sydney, for example, was making claims that Work Choices would produce higher wages. Now those in the opposition are trying to claim that somehow the abolition of Work Choices will produce higher wages. This is simply voodoo economics. They do not know whether they are Arthur or whether they are Martha when it comes to industrial relations. Half of the opposition frontbench want to support our abolition of Work Choices and half of them want to oppose it.

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