Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

On the same matter, I am very disappointed that Senator Back seems to think that a senator who has a long history of working and protecting workers' rights somehow has a view that is jaundiced. The opposition completely miss the mark when it comes to workplace relations. They do so because they themselves come from a position that is jaundiced—that is, first of all, they forget that Work Choices was voted out. There was a reason for that. That reason was that it was demonstrably unfair to workers. It shifted the balance in the workplace. There was no balance. It all went to employers.

Nobody in this chamber would suggest that all employers would be doing the wrong thing. Nobody would suggest that. Senator Cameron was merely pointing out—and it is of course a fact that he has a long history of protecting workers and looking after and advocating for workers' rights and conditions—the unfair relationship between an employer and an employee. I heard what Senator Back had to say. He was himself an employer, and I am sure he was a very fair one. He believes that to be so and I will take him on that. But he is not the only one who has an intimate knowledge about employers. I myself come from a position where I have an intimate knowledge of the employment relationship from the other side.

There is no way in most cases that there is a balanced relationship between employers and employees, and Work Choices shifted that relationship. The Australian public did not agree with the coalition on Work Choices. It stripped away wages, it stripped away entitlements, it stripped away conditions of ordinary working Australians, and it was voted out. The coalition was voted out. There was an overwhelming mandate for the Australian Labor Party to abolish Work Choices. This is what we are talking about here. This is what Senator Back was talking about.

So I suggest that when people want to come in here and talk about their position and debate in an argument, that is fine. But one of the things that you should not do is something Senator Macdonald is a master at. He is always playing the person, playing the senator, and it is always some personal diatribe that comes out against people. But it should be about the debate and it should be about the facts that we put forward here. I was a bit taken aback because Senator Back does not normally come out and try to strip pieces off individual senator; he does not normally play that game. But Senator Cameron and many other senators in this place have long and proud histories of working for unions and they have worked to protect workers, and they are proud of it. I am very proud of the strong trade union movement that we have here in Australia.

I am a member of the union. I have never been a union official, but I am a member of the union, and I am very proud of it. I was very supportive of the Work Choices campaign that was undertaken to see the defeat of the coalition and the abolition of Work Choices. That is what the Australian public wanted, that is what they voted for, and that is what the Labor government gave them. In finishing up, I would just suggest that when we do have these debates we try to keep to the facts of the matter, and the facts are that Work Choices was comprehensively bundled out. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.