Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

As to the fact that Senator Cameron says that the coalition wants to return to Work Choices: absolute rubbish! That is all you can do. No wonder the Australian people did not want to vote for you, because all you had was a scare campaign that was based on nothing, and the Australian people know it and they know it was because you had nothing to offer them. As to the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate saying in here earlier that this process is a stunt: the very fact that this process has been spoken about by the leader, Senator Abetz, saying that we would be bringing this legislation back in and trying to get it back into the chamber hardly means that it is a stunt. Even the Prime Minister said, as recently as the last couple of days, that we were going to get the tough cop back on the beat in relation to the ABCC.

Do you know why we are doing this today? Because the Australian people expect us to do it. They are fed up. They are fed up with the environment in the construction industry. Why on earth would Labor and the Greens refer this to a committee? Labor have already said that they are going to oppose it. Why are they bothering wasting the time? The people of this nation expect us to have a proper process that will have oversight over the construction industry.

Isn't it interesting—and perhaps those on the other side have not availed themselves of some facts around the ABCC; I am sure they do not want to hear this—that, in the five years before 2005, the dispute rate in the construction sector was five times the all-industries average? From 2005 to 2012, the period of operation of the ABCC, the rate of disputes in the construction sector dropped to twice the all-industries average. Under the current regulator, Fair Work Building and Construction, the dispute rate has increased to four times the all-industries figure. Why on earth wouldn't we expect to see this legislation in here today so that we can fix the issues?

We have seen the Thomson trial, the slush fund, the whistleblowers—the coalition is acting absolutely appropriately in trying to bring this legislation in here today, to do the right thing by the Australian people, because it is not just the coalition that want to see this legislation in here; it is the people of Australia who expect us to put in place proper processes for oversight so we can get rid of all of those activities, all of those things that Senator Abetz mentioned earlier, that are untenable to see in the operation of the industry.

This is an opportunity for Labor and the Greens to reconsider. They can, right here, right now, reconsider and allow this legislation to come in—and, indeed, change their view, because they are so hung up on hanging on to the past. We have seen Senator Wong in here saying that it is a stunt. They have absolutely nothing to offer the Australian people. It is about time they respected the views of the people of Australia when they said on 7 September: 'We want the coalition to govern this nation. We have heard what they are saying. We have heard what their policies are. We have heard where the coalition wants to take this nation. And we say yes.' It is about time that those on the other side of the chamber respected that. This legislation should come in today and it should be passed.