Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

No. They called me a neoliberal and said that I should not be hiding behind this nonsense about the privacy of non-union members and that is was just outrageous. I confess that I did have some delight in emailing back in recent times saying that I think that this government may have certain neoliberal tendencies in relation to these matters.

More seriously, we as a coalition treat very seriously the right of workers to privacy. We believe that access should not be provided to employees’ records. The fact that Ms Gillard tried to get away with this is, we believe, not a good reflection on her. But somebody clearly must have mugged her with the reality that the Australian community, with its sense of a fair go, would not accept the sort of regime that was originally proposed in the bill—especially, might I add, in circumstances in which Ms Gillard made a very strong promise to the Australian people before the election. In fact, on 7 November 2007, at a debate at the National Press Club, she said this:

If you’d like me to pledge to resign, sign a contract in blood—

I am not sure that she would necessarily be able to sustain that one, but that is what she said—

take a polygraph ... give you my mother as a hostage, whatever you’d like. We will be delivering our policy as we have outlined.

Later she said, ‘Current right-of-entry laws will be maintained.’ That was a very strong promise. On 28 August, the Labor Party said, ‘Labor will maintain the existing right of entry provisions. Right-of-entry rules remain.’ It made similar commitments the same day. Interestingly, even after the election, on 28 May, speaking to the Master Builders Australia dinner, Minister Gillard said:

We promised to retain the current right of entry framework and this promise too will be kept.

That was as late as 28 May, after they were elected. The bill that was presented to us clearly did not abide by those fundamental election commitments.

If nothing else, Ms Gillard’s mother must have said, ‘Look, I don’t like the idea of being taken as a hostage. You’d better wind back this right of entry nonsense and allow me to enjoy my life.’ Ms Gillard has wound it back and we congratulate the government. Whatever the motivation was, having had a very consistent line over many years on the right to privacy, we welcome the change and place on the record that those people who make a decision not to join a union now have their right to privacy protected.