Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Well, you go out and defend this nonsense in the public arena. I know what the view of the general public will be. They will regard it as a political stunt. I have already been out, on the weekend, talking to people and listening to what they had to say about some of the charges against Mr Garrett. He is getting a great deal of support out in the community. I spoke to an electrician on the weekend and had reported to me a conversation with a plumber. They know very well where the responsibilities for these matters of workplace health and safety lie. One of them referred me to a 1994 safety pamphlet that he had knowledge of that dealt with this question of safety with insulation and raised some of these concerns. My experience of dealing with the general public is they treat much of this as a political stunt. They do think the deaths of those poor young men are serious. They do think we ought to treat this seriously.