Craig Thomson (Dobell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to pay tribute to the Your Rights at Work campaign on the Central Coast and the work those people did in highlighting these unfair laws in my electorate. To the great dismay of members like the member for Mayo, his creation was discarded by the voters of Australia. I do wonder if the member for Mayo and the former member for Dobell agree with the member for O’Connor, who said the only problem with the Howard government’s unpopular Work Choices legislation was its name.

The government’s agenda is to create a productivity- and investment-friendly, seamless national economy that keeps the Australian tradition of the fair go alive in the workplace. Australia is well placed to emerge from this global financial crisis. But the road ahead will be long and tough. The Australian Labor Party is the political party of vision and reform. We are the only party with the ability to bring the nation forward through the stormy economic times. We are the only ones with the ability to make tough economic decisions as required while not forgetting Australia’s belief in social justice and a fair go. We need to build for the future. We need a building decade for productivity. This is an important bill for Telstra and Telstra workers, and I commend the bill to the House.

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