Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Of course, these questions from the former Howard ministers are fatuous because they deliberately decided, in government, to not do this analysis because they did not want to know the results. They deliberately decided they did not want to analyse the dimension of the rip-off of Australian working families. We should also note that these are the people who deliberately decided not to release any economic modelling of Work Choices. They did not want that information out there.

We are in a situation today where hardworking Australians are still caught by Work Choices. We are trying to get rid of Australian workplace agreements, in accordance with our policy and the election mandate of the Australian people. That is why we introduced last week the transition bill. What has been the answer, given these shocking statistics, in this parliament of the opposition to that bill’s introduction? Well, really, we have got confusion, but what we know that they have actually done is extend the Senate inquiry in order to keep Work Choices going on as long as possible. Whatever they say about amendments, whatever they say about not opposing, whatever they say about five-year transitional agreements and them lasting to 2012 or 2017—they do not seem to know—whatever they say about those things, the thing that they have achieved is the continuation of the Australian workplace agreements that these shocking statistics come from. The one thing that should happen today in light of these shocking statistics is that the opposition, in all of its confusion and division, should say, ‘What we will do today is we will agree with Labor that this bill will be through the House and through the Senate before Easter.’ That will enable a Senate inquiry on the same timetable that the parliament last had when workplace relations laws were dealt with by this parliament. This opposition should get people out of the clutches of Work Choices. In delaying that, all it is doing is reinforcing its reputation as the Work Choices party.

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