Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Marshall has said it all: the reports with the sorts of details he is giving do come at times from what I would call questionable sources. It is quite clear to me from hearing Senator Marshall that the unions have been working flat out to try to discredit what is clearly a work system that is embraced by most Australians. The flexibility that the Work Choices legislation gives to Australians is well appreciated and the benefit of it is demonstrated by the fact that, since Work Choices commenced, unemployment has been at the lowest it has been in the memory of any of us in this chamber. Unemployment is so low because of (a) this government’s good economic management and (b) the flexibility of Work Choices.

I know the unions have contributed upwards of $30 million to the Labor Party to run what I consider to be a very dishonest television campaign on the Work Choices legislation, but I think the facts of this Work Choices legislation are becoming increasingly known to the Australian public. We have put in place a lot of safeguards. In question time today, Senator Abetz indicated prosecutions that have been brought against employers who have breached the very stringent rules contained in the Work Choices legislation.

I understand that this is the last-gasp for the unions and the Labor Party. If the Labor Party do not win this election, the unions will be finished in Australia. Why will they be finished? Because they are not needed anymore. People these days—young people in particular—have the confidence to deal with their employers and get a good deal. What the Labor Party and the unions continue to overlook is that employees are more important to employers than employers are to employees. Employers cannot run their businesses without a competent, skilled, satisfied and happy workforce. That is why the Work Choices legislation has given the sort of flexibility that most Australian working people now enjoy.

As I said, it is a last-gasp issue for the Labor Party. If the Labor Party get in, they will do what they did when they were last in power: they kept throwing money at the unions and putting them on all the dodgy boards. How many boards were there; how many committees; how many focus groups? I know that Mr Rudd is very influenced by focus groups. The Labor Party are promising so many new committees, so many new organisations—you will be able to fill them all with your union mates, give them some money and—