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

I will. Let me explain it to you because you need to understand something about the workplace relations system. Let me explain to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition what has happened with the workplace relations system. People saw an avalanche or a tidal wave of extreme industrial relations legislation coming under the former government. Knowing that that extreme legislation was going to be put in place, people rushed to lock in their collective agreements before it took effect. As a result, many collective agreements were locked in at the same time and those collective agreements are now coming up for rebargaining. That bulge of numbers is the logical consequence of people seeking to beat the industrial relations extremism of the former government.

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