Steve Hutchins (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

So you should be. We, too, are very glad that you worked there because in the end you assisted us in having one of the most magnificent electoral victories we have had in modern history. Thank you very much, Senator Fisher, and all of you other coalition characters. You would think, from what you were telling us here today, that you had some sympathy for those workers you were talking about. There is no way in the world that these people have any sympathy for those workers that Senator Fisher referred to.

There is a lady who worked in a firm named Spotlight in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, who was a member of her union and had been a lifelong Liberal voter. As a result of the changes effected by Senator Fisher’s government, that lady never voted Liberal again. In fact, she was one of the people who were in our election campaigns saying that we would tear up and destroy Australian workplace agreements. That is exactly what we did. But, Senator Fisher, don’t come in here and say you have got any sympathy for these people who may be underpaid or low paid. You have no sympathy for them at all because we have seen you in action—