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

They guffaw in their arrogance. The amendments go to the voting majorities that will make decisions in Safe Work Australia. These things were worked through in great detail by the Workplace Relations Ministerial Council. As I said when I first spoke in the parliament, people came to that table with different views. You would expect that. But the essence of entering an intergovernmental agreement is that people sit round a table, have a discussion, someone gives a bit, another person gives a bit and an agreement is made. That is what happened around the table of the Workplace Relations Ministerial Council. It resulted in this historic agreement, something that the Howard government could never deliver.

Now it has been brought to the parliament because we want to get on with this process of harmonising laws. If the Liberal Party, with its improper motivations in relation to this matter, as revealed by a shadow cabinet submission, stays committed—

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