Matt Thistlethwaite (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I was somewhat puzzled when Senator Williams began his speech with a reference to the wide comb dispute of the 1980s and I thought to myself, 'What is the relevance to this debate today?' Then it struck me; it hit me like a bolt of lightning. Senator Williams is doing what those opposite in the Liberal Party and their leader have been doing for the last couple of days—using this Qantas dispute to divert attention from the fact that the Liberal-National coalition do not have a policy when it comes to industrial relations. They do not have a policy on workplace relations in this country. They do not know whether they are going to include individual contracts as part of their statutory scheme. In fact, many of those opposite believe that individual contracts should be a part of the industrial relations regime. Jamie Briggs and Kelly O'Dwyer have let the cat out of the bag on several occasions.