Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

It just demonstrates the mentality that we have in the chamber that you cannot follow this notional view. The issue here is about the fact that people should feel as if the contribution they are making is to a better nation—to a better society and to a fairer, more just, happier, satisfied community. What we need to do after a decade of this dog-eat-dog individualism—versus a collective community view—is to rebuild community in Australia. We know that it is there just under the surface. Every time there is a tragedy in Australia we see what happens when the community comes together. People give what they can in the national interest. People do what they can in the national interest. We have not seen that in the broader sense; people do it on an emergency basis.

We are now facing a global emergency with the coming together of these three crises. I want to see the end of Work Choices. I want to see a new view of workplace relations that sees every worker in Australia think about, believe in and want to contribute to a national vision going forward to a more socially just, inclusive, fair, thoughtful and creative Australia which is resilient and which has good quality jobs and workplaces. That is the kind of Australia we want to see, and we want to end forever the faces and the remnants of Work Choices in this society.