Guy Barnett,Minister for Primary Industries and Water
Labor is shamelessly trying to spread false information about the Workplace Protection Bill in a desperate bid to cover their lack of support for Tasmanian workers.
Today Shane Broad stated that nurses and factory workers could be fined or even jailed under this legislation.
This is completely misleading and Labor knows it.
Section 5 (2) of the Act, which is not amended by the Bill, specifically excludes hospitals from the definition of business premises to which it applies.
Therefore, nurses and medical staff protesting at hospitals are exempt from this Bill.
The Act also provides certain exemptions for protected or lawful industrial action.
Labor's fabricated attack on the Bill is nothing more than a poorly-disguised attempt to hide the fact that it is the only Labor Party in the country that seems to oppose these laws.
Unlike Labor parties in NSW, Queensland, South Australian and Western Australia, the Tasmanian Labor party has bucked the national consensus and voted against this Bill when in the lower house previously.
Tasmanian businesses and workers deserve the right to work free from threats and invasions from radical extremists.
I say enough with the party politics - let's work together.
I acknowledge and applaud Labor's condemnation of the Bob Brown Foundation's recent radical protest action, and I call on Labor to re-think its opposition to our Bill
