Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Isn’t that interesting, Senator Nash—the link between the union movement and the Labor Party. What did Bill Shorten say? He said it would be ‘a green light for mass sackings’. What did they say about the effect on wages? Kevin Rudd, the Labor leader, said, ‘It could produce downward pressure on wages.’ Julia Gillard said, ‘Work Choices will drive down wages and productivity.’ They made a whole range of outrageous allegations, and I will mention a couple of them. Kim Beazley said, ‘Mums and dads know that Howard’s industrial relations laws are throwing their kids to the wolves.’ Sharan Burrow said: ‘This is an attack on the lives of working people. It will undermine families.’ She said also that ‘working families’ lives are at risk here.’ Greg Combet said: ‘Work Choices is very nasty legislation. It encourages exploitation, not enterprise.’ He also said, ‘This will put lives at risk.’ Give me a break!

The Australian people know what has occurred in the last 12 months. They can see the facts. I want to share this Latin maxim with the Senate and the Australian public: res ipsa loquitur—that is, let the facts speak for themselves. In the last 12 months the facts have demonstrated that we now have an extra 263,700 new jobs. Senator Marshall says that is really not all due to Work Choices. Of course it is not all due to Work Choices—but surely it is substantially due to Work Choices. He says that those figures do not add up. Let us look at the annual growth in jobs under the coalition compared to the last seven years under Labor. That figure is 185,800 jobs compared to 101,200 jobs. Senator Marshall, please, have a listen and look at the facts. What are the facts?