Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I would ask the member for Warringah, the member for Mayo, who is interjecting, and the rest of the opposition, who today have voted for Work Choices and described it as ‘good for workers’, to explain to the 70 per cent of workers who lost their shift loadings in AWAs whether it was good for them; to the 65 per cent of workers who lost their penalty rates through AWAs whether it was good for them; and to the 61 per cent who lost their substitute days for public holidays whether it was good for them. Was it good for the 50 per cent of people on Australian workplace agreements who lost public holiday pay? Was it good for the 31 per cent who lost rest breaks? Of course, the statistics of shame that relate to Work Choices go on—they are just the start of the statistics. Does the Leader of the Opposition agree it was good for workers for them to lose amounts of up to $500 a week, as I have disclosed in this House? Was that good for workers? Is that what you mean by ‘good for workers’ in the Liberal Party these days?

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