Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Hansard source

None other than Senator Gavin Marshall said that. How wrong he was. But, even better: ‘... these changes are going to have a catastrophic effect on the wages of Australian workers’—that was none other than Senator George Campbell, and how wrong he was. Remember all the doom and gloom: under Work Choices, workers would face mass sackings. Instead of employment going down, it has gone up—159,000 extra workers. We were told that wages would be driven down; in fact, they are being driven up. So can I suggest to those opposite that they should discard their silly policy of ripping up Work Choices, because if they seek to rip up Work Choices they will be ripping up the 159,000 extra jobs that have been created; they will be ripping up the real wage increases that workers of Australia are now enjoying across the board, over the last quarter. I say this to Mr Beazley and the Labor Party—a bit of gratuitous advice: if you keep on with this silly policy of ripping up Work Choices, Mr Beazley will rip up any chance that he ever had of becoming Prime Minister of this great nation.