Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Hansard source

I reaffirm, again, that this decision has not compromised safety standards in any way, and I again confirm to the Senate that this decision was taken to ensure that the thousands and thousands of small businesses that operate in this country had access to nation-building projects. I do hope that Liberal Party and National Party senators never come in here and blame us for local tradespeople not being able to get access to work while at the same time criticise us on this change in OH&S. This change allowed thousands of small businesses across the country to get access to nation-building projects. I am proud of the decision we took. It was the right decision and it means we are supporting jobs. As the OECD said, 200,000 jobs would be lost, and the Liberal Party’s plan for jobs is to roll back the stimulus and go back to Work Choices. (Time expired)