Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Road Safety) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Madam Deputy President. And, thank you, Senator Gallacher, because we do take this seriously. We don't just think there's an opportunity to have a gaggle and a photo and appear in a Green Left weekly magazine, because we're taking this damn seriously. As I said, millions and millions of Australians have benefited from the work of unions in this nation. Nothing galls me more than when I hear those on the other side and their lemmings—the followers—talking about how wonderful they've been in negotiating their contract. Every worker in this nation owes it to the work of the unions on the worksites. There is a saying that I picked up. My good mate Senator Gallacher uses it regularly and I like it too: 'A rising tide lifts all boats.' How true a statement is that. And it is the work of the unions and the union membership that actually lifts that tide, and those boats lift with that work.

What we've seen here, since the Howard days, is that they're clawing at the gates. They're like a dog, like a greyhound in the boxes at the races, bursting to get out. Every day they're conniving. How can they calm the chooks and put them all to sleep, while they quietly work around undermining the ability of young Australians to walk into a well-paying job? What is wrong in this nation with Australians not only expecting but demanding that the next generation shall have the conditions that we've enjoyed? And we've enjoyed these conditions through collective bargaining and we've enjoyed these conditions because we didn't have the horrible of the horriblest, the LNP—that mob over there—undermining us at every opportunity when we were in government. As soon as they're in government, that's the first step: how can they undermine the working conditions of Australian men and women? We heard yesterday, Senator Sheldon, I think, raise questions in question time to the minister—and I cannot remember who the minister was; they shift around a fair bit. Who was it?