Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Sorry, my apologies. If the senator wants to indicate that it was the case that the TWU were invited, I will happily accept that. If he is nodding and saying it is, Mr Acting Deputy President, I will accept his word. Others who attended told me that they were not invited. I saw the list of participants and I asked the question.

Senator Madigan interjecting—

Saturday just gone. Two days ago.

Senator Madigan interjecting—

I accept the interjection, Mr Acting Deputy President, because I know that Senator Madigan did hold a forum with the national secretary of the Transport Workers’ Union. I repeat: I congratulate you, Senator Madigan, on the way you conducted yourself. You have made an attempt to be informed about all sides of the debate. You may have ended up on a different side to me, but you have made a genuine attempt to get across the complex issues that I have also focused on for 25 years of my working life. I was told that the meeting you had on the Saturday just gone was a meeting of stakeholders. But it was a stakeholder meeting that did not include the Transport Workers’ Union. It was with all the employer bodies, which I would have thought, by definition, are not all stakeholders.

Senator Madigan interjecting—

I am not trying to have a go. You attempted to inform yourself. But I was surprised, if you were holding a stakeholder forum, that they were not invited to that meeting. Rather than properly sitting down and consulting with the affected parties—employers, workers, unions, owner-operators—the government and some on the crossbench are going to recklessly ram this decision through. (Time expired)