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

No, Senator Brandis, it does not follow. The government was in receipt of advice from its department and the legal team inside the department about issues at Qantas over a period of months. All those options had been presented to the government and discussed. When we found out—sometime after two o'clock on Saturday afternoon—about the lockout we sought further advice about the alternatives open to us, and senior ministers discussed that. We were in a position, Senator, if we had chosen, to take that action. But we also knew the hurdles involved in that, and the advice to us was that the preferable action was to use clause 424 as a quicker and more efficient way of resolving the dispute. We followed that advice and—guess what—it worked. The government was successful. You have just got to recognise that, Senator. (Time expired)