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

I thank the member for Longman for his question. The substantial question that is now raised in this parliament as it deals with the Fair Work Bill is a question about the character of the Leader of the Opposition, what his word to the Australian people is worth. On the question of whether the word of the Leader of the Opposition is worth anything, the signs are not very good. We know from last December he gave his word to the Australian people, in a very instructive and discursive interview with Dennis Shanahan of the Australian, when he said:

Our principles are enduring, but we must frame our policies in the light of changing circumstances and, most importantly, in the light of the judgement of the people delivered at the election—which we heard loud and clear.

Those are the words of the Leader of the Opposition. I am going to concede to the House that he was trying to make a point. He went on to say:

So while I believe—as would most economists—

I do not agree with him on that but it is his quote—

that unfair dismissal laws add to the cost of employing people, nonetheless Labor took a proposal to change the unfair dismissal laws to the election and won.

So we must respect that.

Those are the words of the Leader of the Opposition. Are those words worth anything? On the question of whether the words of the Leader of the Opposition are worth anything, I would refer the House to an interview with Alan Jones today. It is very instructive. Mr Jones put to the Leader of the Opposition a proposition about Work Choices, and Mr Turnbull said in response, ‘The person who said Work Choices was dead was Brendan Nelson.’ That is very interesting, isn’t it? Because I have a transcript from the Leader of the Opposition as recent as 5 March in which he said:

Work Choices is dead. We accepted the verdict of the people at the last election.

At some point in all this opportunism, in all this twisting and turning, in all these statements to the Australian people, the Leader of the Opposition is going to run out of rope and he is going to have to declare his hand and make a decision—and that point is coming in the Senate later today. The Leader of the Opposition will be exposed as a man in the embrace of Work Choices if his senators vote against the Fair Work Bill, and he will be exposed as a man whose word is worth nothing. This is now a question of character for the Leader of the Opposition.

On the question of character and lack of honesty and the lack of principles of the Liberal Party in relation to Work Choices, I would refer members in the House to a recent report of the Auditor-General. It is very instructive. The Auditor-General’s recent audit report No. 24: The Administration of contracting arrangements in relation to government advertising November 2007 audited two separate Work Choices campaigns—one for more than $49 million in 2005 and one for more than $63 million in 2007. They worked their way through the probity arrangements in relation to these campaigns.

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