Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. In 2008 the Leader of the Opposition, when a minister in the Labor governments, said the Fair Work Act would:

… create workplaces where our children will do better, not worse, than we used to and in which prosperity expands and embraces us all.

It was really touching actually, very touching.

But he doesn't say that anymore—oh no. Now, when he turns up to the controlling shareholders meeting—that is to say, meeting with the CFMEU—he describes these selfsame Fair Work laws as a cancer which need to be rewritten. So laws 'where our children will do better, not worse, in which prosperity expands and embraces us all'—a sort of nirvana, happiness for everybody—that was in 2008. Now, because he's answering to the call of his paymasters, he says those very same laws, written by a government in which he was a minister, are a cancer and must be abandoned. It is no wonder nobody believes the Leader of the Opposition.

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