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

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I do not know if he has ever conducted a genuine negotiation, but I have. As a government, we were elected with our fair work policy. We were elected to get rid of Work Choices. We were elected to get the balance right. Of course, we have honoured the policy commitments in our Forward with Fairness policy but, along the way, we sat with the representatives of business and we talked about the details. We negotiated. We talked. We sat with the representatives of working Australians—representatives of our great trade union movement—and talked. We sat especially with the representatives of small businesses around the nation and talked. Those talks led to a better outcome. They led to a better Fair Work system than we otherwise would have had. It is that spirit that the Treasurer, on my behalf and working with the minister for resources, will take to these negotiations with the mining industry.

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