Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors, Tourism and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I refer the Prime Minister to this letter from Tony Philbrick, who operates a newsagency in the Prime Minister’s electorate. Mr Philbrick says in his letter that he will have to retrench at least 10 per cent of his staff because of the government’s job-destroying industrial relations changes. Prime Minister, how many working families in your electorate will become redundancy families as a direct result of Labor’s job destroying changes?

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. Pardon me for getting it wrong, but I thought their position was that Work Choices was dead.

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is part dead, is it? The parrot is not fully dead; it is only part dead.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order on relevance. The Prime Minister was asked a specific question about job-destroying—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Sturt will resume his seat.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Pyne interjecting

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Sturt has stated his point of order. The Prime Minister will respond to the question.

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In framing the government’s industrial relations policy for the future, we have done so in a manner entirely consistent with the package that we put to the Australian people prior to the last election. We have done so in a manner which is consultative with both business and with unions on a whole range of matters—

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors, Tourism and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, my point of order is on relevance. My question was specific—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There were 17 seconds since the previous point of order. The Prime Minister is responding to the question. I will listen closely to the answer but in 50 seconds of the question being answered there have been two points of order.

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The honourable member asked a question about the prospective impact of the industrial relations legislation on a small business operator. As honourable members in this House would be aware, the circumstances concerning any individual small business operator in the country are only ultimately known to that small business operator, and I respect entirely the point of view put forward by anyone in the business community. It is their democratic right to object to or to support any element of the government’s legislation.

What I would say is that, in framing the government’s legislation, the government have been absolutely consistent. We have said from the beginning that we will act on the basis of getting the balance right between employers and employees; that we will provide a guarantee for those employees out there who had, through Work Choices, their redundancies stripped away from them; that we would act in support of those employees who have had other basic working conditions, such as their overtime penalty rates and other basic safety net provisions, stripped away from them. That was our mandate from the last election. Also, that is what we have reflected throughout the legislation.

We have been consistent throughout on this matter. And I would say to those opposite, to those who have said most recently that Work Choices is dead—Leader of the Opposition—and to those who have said most recently that the government’s position on unfair dismissal is one for which we have a mandate and they understand it, that again we see the same pattern, as has already been evidenced today in the matter of climate change. As to what they said last year and what they said earlier this year, it is a completely different season now that the Leader of the Opposition is under attack from the member for Higgins. What the Australian people want at a time of global economic recession and crisis is consistency of policy from the government. They would have the same expectation of consistency of policy on the part of those opposite. Is it their position today that Work Choices is dead? I would like to hear from them on that.