Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Grey for his question and I know that he like I, and all members of this side of the House, are absolutely delighted with the fact that the Registered Organisations Commission bill passed in the early hours this morning. Full congratulations should go to Senator Michaelia Cash from Western Australia, who has done a sterling job to drive through a bill that the last Senate failed to pass on, I think, at least two occasions—it might have been three occasions—and in fact was the cause of the double dissolution election. The Senate has done its job, which is to consider the Registered Organisations Commission bill, amend it where necessary and send it back to the House of Representatives. So it is a red-letter day in industrial relations in Australia and it proves once again that the coalition is on the side of the workers and the Labor Party is on the side of the union bosses. It took us to stand up for the two million members of registered organisations in Australia. It took the coalition to stand up for the 60,000 volunteers in the Country Fire Association against the United Firefighters Union. It took this side of politics to stand up for—

Mr Rob Mitchell interjecting—

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