Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to oppose the amendments and put on the record the federal opposition's view on these matters. In fact it has been the case that in the long period that this bill has been before the parliament we have had many discussions. We have had discussions with the government. We have had discussions with the crossbenchers. We have had discussions with stakeholders—employers and unions—to see whether we could find a reasonable accommodation of views in light of the amendments or the provisions within the existing bill or the original bill.

The original bill, of course, was much broader than this particular bill. It went to a whole range of areas, including right of entry, transmission of business and the way in which you might change individual flexibility arrangements in workplaces. The government found, of course, that there was no appetite in the Senate from non-government members to accede to the government's preference to support that particular bill, so the former Minister for Employment failed in his efforts to convince a sufficient number of senators to have that bill pass the Senate.

That is not surprising. Notwithstanding the comments made just now by the Minister for Social Services, I would have to disagree that the bill is a reflection of the commitments made prior to the election. Whilst there were some references to some of the matters and indeed there were references to, for example, enacting legislation consistent with recommendations of the previous government's review of the Fair Work Act, the fact is that the provisions within this bill and indeed the original bill do not reflect the recommendations as outlined by that review that was undertaken by the previous government. It is disingenuous of the government to suggest that the bill's provisions reflected the recommendations that were part of the former Labor government's review. They were in part, but, as always, you have to look at the detail when it comes to such matters. When it comes to industrial relations, you definitely have to look at the detail when it comes to the Liberal government looking to enact change.

We know that because its history is replete with transgressions in this area. One that stands out in particular—and I was in the place at the time—was when the former Prime Minister John Howard walked in after the 2004 election and made a ministerial statement. He made it himself. It was on what he wanted to do—

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