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

The man said this in answer to a question, and it is in the transcript. I will find the transcript if you want me to embarrass this man. I can assure the member opposite that he said that the great thing about Work Choices is that it made legal what had been illegal in the hospitality industry. For me, that sums up Work Choices—a law that sanctions actions that were considered by earlier governments, Labor and conservative, as illegal.

Interestingly, and underlining the decency in most people, the people who spoke with me around the country in every state and territory were less worried about the loss of their own employment, their own employment security and their own employment rights and more worried about the effects that Work Choices would have on their children, their grandchildren and people they had never met. This is in stark contrast to the admission made this week by the former Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, who said that many cabinet ministers of the Howard government were not aware of the adverse effects of Work Choices. We are supposed to believe that the cabinet ministers of the former government were not aware of the adverse effects of Work Choices. This beggars belief. I know the previous government was out of touch, but for me to believe that cabinet ministers did not know the effects of Work Choices would have me conclude that they were incompetent beyond belief or insensitive to the concerns of ordinary working Australians.

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