asked the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, upon notice, on 6 November 2012:

With reference to the answer provided to question on notice no. 1906 (Senate Hansard, 10 September 2012, p. 6537), can a yes or no response be provided to the question.

The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

The answer is yes because industrial dispute figures have been trending down strongly over time, noting that short-term comparisons and commentary can be misleading because the figures tend to fluctutate in the short-term and figures over the last year have been inflated by state public sector disputes outside of the Fair Work Act.