Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

We're continuing the work of those incredible women. Those women, through the work in the union movement, fed into the foundation of our political organisation. All of the women involved in the Labor Party—and, indeed, all of the men involved in the Labor Party—build on the work of those women and those men who were very brave as they fought for industrial rights in this country. That fight continues today, as we know.

We've had the 'closing loopholes' bill. We've had all the claims that any improvement in industrial relations is going to be the end of everything, the end of the world. We have the resistance to what was occurring back in the 1800s sitting in front of us today. We absolutely are committed to improving the lives of working women. We understand that within the organisation there are discussions, and it's absolutely appropriate that those be allowed to occur.