Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

Great. Now we are going to have his colleague from Queensland get up as well. I want as many government members speaking on this as possible. I want their comments and defence of this bill on the record so when the thousands of workers start losing their jobs as a result of Joe Hockey and this government turning their backs on the car industry we can say: 'If you want to understand why you are not receiving a decent benefit, even after working 40 years in a workplace, you can thank the Prime Minister, the Minister for Employment, Senator Abetz, and all the other frontbenchers.' But who is here to defend them? A backbencher has decided to defend them. There are no frontbenchers defending this. I cannot wait to hear Minister Abetz's defence of this, because it is reprehensible. It is a breach of faith. It is contradicting the promises made before the election. It is attacking the needs of workers who are going to struggle if this legislation is passed.

I ask the government to rethink its position. The intersection between what is happening in the car industry and other industries because our economy is in transition—and we know that there are challenges—is the perfect storm and is going to mean that people will drown economically as a result. I assert that the government should rethink its position because the bill is harsh, it is in contradiction to the government's commitments before the election and it is going to hurt older Australians most of all—not just older Australians but many who have worked 40 years building the company, building the community and building this country. I seek leave to table the letter from Minister Abetz to Mr Rault confirming that there would be no changes to these entitlements.

Leave not granted.

See this speech in context