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

The Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party’s question is premised on the false choice that the Liberal Party tried to present to the Australian community in 2007 and which the Australian people rejected. It is premised on the false choice that when you are making workplace relations arrangements you need to choose between prosperity and fairness, between jobs and fairness at work. There is no such false choice alive in our economy. And the Australian people saw right through the Liberal Party’s cant about this at the last election. Modern, simple workplace relations is good for workers and it is good for business. Of course, if you are doing things that are good for business, you are doing things that are good for employment.

Let me tell you what was bad for business. What was bad for business was the system set up by the former government where agreements went to the back of a 100,000-long queue so businesses did not know what was happening for three months, four months, five months, six months or seven months. Screaming abuse in defence of Work Choices is not going to make that right. Having small businesses wait five, six, seven or eight months under Work Choices to be told what had happened to their agreement—

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