Daryl Melham (Banks, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present a petition from 9,538 petitioners which has been certified by the Clerk. I collected these petitions from a delegates meeting of the CFMEU at Lidcombe on Friday, 31 August and undertook to present the petition on behalf of the members present.

The petition read as follows—

To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives assembled in Parliament:

The petition of certain citizens of Australia draws to the attention of the House their protest against the unfair workplace laws introduced by the Federal Liberal Government, which are being used by employers to undermine the wages and security of Australian workers and the future continuation of our Industry Picnic.

Your petitioners therefore request the House to overturn this unfair legislation which attacks the rights and dignity of Australian workers.

From 9,538 citizens.

Mr Speaker, as you know, the Labor Party is pledged to overturn those unfair laws should it win the next election. This is a situation where the people are speaking with their feet. They are signing petitions—some have never signed a petition before—to say to this government, ‘We do not agree with what you have done.’ At the next election, they will vote with their feet by throwing this government out. It deserves to be thrown out. This is one of the largest petitions I have ever presented to this parliament in the 17½ years that I have been here.