Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I'm not going to be providing guarantees about what will or won't happen under this legislation. It's not unusual for the coalition to come into this chamber and make alarmist claims about what government legislation will provide. It is worth remembering that statistics from the Australian Human Rights Commission indicate that only four per cent of finalised discrimination complaints actually proceed to court. So, for everyone who is voting on this legislation, it's worth remembering that it's only four per cent of finalised discrimination complaints that actually proceed to court. And, as Senator Scarr is aware, it's not unusual for parties who oppose government legislation to make statements about what they say will happen as a result of government legislation. It wasn't that long ago that Senator Cash was telling us that the government's industrial relations laws would take us back to the Dark Ages, and that didn't happen either.