Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Hansard source

It is always great, during a heated question time, to get asked a question with some humour in it. I thank Senator Brown for the mirth that she has injected into this question time by her suggestions of blatant political intervention in circumstances when we know that that is exactly what the Australian Labor Party and the trade union movement are trying to achieve with a particular event tomorrow.

In relation to the Office of the Employment Advocate, they are able to manage their affairs as they deem appropriate, and they do. If they provide a memorandum to their workers, that is their right to do so. In the event that that memorandum contains information which may be incorrect, it is the right of the worker to challenge that. As I understand it, that is what the worker did with the support of the union. It then went to the appropriate court for hearing and, on appeal, a decision was made. We on this side have always believed in the rule of law in industrial matters, and that is why we have such things these days as the Australian Building and Construction Commission, something which those opposite oppose. In relation to the minister’s alleged involvement—because there is no hint at all that he did—