Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

You can laugh at this as much as you like, Senator Forshaw, but you know that what I am saying is totally accurate. You have tried to place two bob each way on your progressive sector and your blue-collar workers. You have played one off against the other and you have told them both to lie down because they have both been bought off.

That is the way that the trade unions work. I know that it works that way, because some indiscrete Labor Party people have told me, ‘You have to lie down. It’s been agreed. Once we agree on things, we’re locked in.’ Well, you might be locked in but the research tells us that, across all age groups and across all workers and business people, 54 per cent of people do not want it. Only 34 per cent want it. Your research would not show anything different to this; it would not be the slightest bit different. Your polling is done by people who are accurate and this polling is done by Galaxy, and that is accurate. And you are thinking: ‘So what do we do? We’re in trouble. We’re losing our vote. Let’s get this thing through immediately. Let’s get it through as fast as we can.’ That is why I do not believe that we can extend the hours. There are other issues that need to be investigated. I am not an accountant, but my colleague Senator Joyce is.