JUST ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE – THE UNION BOSS WONDERLAND
ADDRESS TO THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP PIR CONFERENCE, CANBERRA
Introduction
Just imagine, getting paid to go to the gym, followed by having a relaxing massage followed by a shower. Well you won't need to imagine for much longer. Thanks to the union bosses and the Fair Work Act those days might not be that far away. So, Innes, I think you applied for the wrong job albeit I for one congratulate you and wish you well on this, your first official day on the ground.
"Where we Stand" Address to the Workplace Relations Policy Forum, Victorian Liberal Party State Council
Workplace relations in Australia has been front and centre in the media in recent months. From Craig Thomson to Asciano and from Qantas to George Calombaris – with the problems of the Fair Work Act coming to the surface.
I have no doubt that more problems will emerge in coming months.
What a pitiful contribution we have just witnessed from the Leader of the Australian Greens. He spoke about anything and everything but why he and the Australian Greens are going to contribute to this ruthless guillotining of 16 pieces of legislation. Senator Brown can talk and talk and talk as much as he likes, but he used all of his time without once seeking to justify why the democratic process of this chamber should be curtailed; why 16 bills should be guillotined and why some of those bills should be dealt with without a single word of debate being spoken. This is because, let us make no mistake, some of these bills will only have 10 minutes allocated to them.
That the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Amendment (Transition to Fair Work) Bill 2012, as passed by the House of Representatives on 16 February 2012, be referred to the Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 8 May 2012.
Address to the Young Liberal Movement Federal Convention, Sydney
Welcome to 2012: a year which promises to be even more difficult than the last.
A year in which the cost of living will increase even further due to the Carbon Tax.
A year in which the debt burden placed on the next generation will balloon to phenomenal proportions. Quite frankly, it is hard to see how Australia can endure another 12 months of Labor's seven deadly sins.
Senator Abetz :Trust is the key currency of politics, and unless you can be trusted to honour that to which you've committed to do, then, I've got to say, you're not going to obtain the enduring respect of the Australian people.
Those prophetic words were spoken by no other than the Labor leader himself on 29 February 2008, some two years ago. Put simply, the Australian people no longer trust Labor, because Labor has not honoured the people of Australia by keeping its promises. Indeed, Labor discards its solemn promises as easily as we discard our used tissues: it spares them not another thought.
The list of broken promises, this shameful record, must surely be vying for a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. Who else could recklessly make so many inflated promises inflated both in number and actual size and then so dismissively walk away from them other than Labor, led by the promise-making, promise-breaking duo of Mr Rudd and Ms Gillard and, might I add, every single Labor member and senator in this place?
Thank you for the opportunity to address you this morning.
Can I acknowledge Stephen Smith, members of AIG, stakeholders, and fellow workplace relations tragics.
In any discussion of matters workplace relations it is always instructive to remind oneself that issues workplace relations straddle both the social and economic areas of public policy.
It is with a true sense of pride and honour that I rise this afternoon to deliver my first speech. I say pride and honour because to be chosen by one's state and party to serve in this chamber is truly an honour. It is especially so when one has been chosen to represent the best and most beautiful of the states by the most dynamic political party this country has produced in the most important house of this parliament. It is a bit like winning the trifecta.