Ms GILLARD (Lalor—Prime Minister) (14:14): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question because it enables me to clarify here, on the public record, some of the things which have been claimed by the opposition which are wholly untrue. Let me make sure that the Leader of the Opposition actually understands what happened with this industrial relations dispute, because he is too involved in his cheap politics against the national interest to analyse the facts, analyse the circumstances and analyse the law. The only thing that the Leader of the Opposition ever knew about workplace relations was Work Choices and ripping workers off. To the Leader of the Opposition, if he actually wants to—instead of playing cheap politics—analyse the national interest then he should absorb the following facts— Mr Abbott: Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. It was a pretty simple question: why did she not call Alan Joyce and ask him not to ground the fleet? Ms GILLARD: I know the facts are always very inconvenient for the Leader of the Opposition but these are the facts: on Friday Qantas was indicating publicly that it was still involved in negotiating this dispute; on Saturday, around 2 o'clock, Qantas advised government ministers, particularly the minister for transport, that Qantas was grounding the planes at 5 pm— Mr Dutton: Why didn't you call? The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Dickson is warned. Ms GILLARD: The CEO of Qantas advised particularly the minister for transport around 2 o'clock that planes would be grounded at 5 o'clock in preparation of a lockout. The CEO of Qantas made it perfectly clear to the minister that he was not requesting that the government do anything, that he was not seeking to discuss the matter, that the decision had been made by the Qantas board and the decision would be implemented. So in the face of that advice when I received it from relevant ministers, rather than talk, I acted. The Leader of the Opposition—a man given to things like boat phone, might have spent endless days chat, chat, chat, chat, as thousands of passengers were stranded—might have done that. What I preferred to do was act. I determined immediately that the government would act, that we would intervene in this dispute. Mr Hartsuyker interjecting— The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Cowper is warned. Ms GILLARD: We made application to Fair Work Australia very quickly. An urgent hearing commenced on Saturday night. That hearing continued yesterday. It concluded in the small hours of this morning with a decision that industrial action be ceased. With industrial action now finished, this means that the substance of the Qantas dispute will either be addressed by the industrial parties through a conciliation or will be arbitrated by Fair Work Australia if the industrial parties within a 21-day period do not sort out the dispute. I know the facts do not suit the Leader of the Opposition's cheap politics. I know that he has had as many positions on industrial relations as he has had on climate change. But at base the only thing that is ever motivating him is cheap politics and working out how he can justify a return to Work Choices. That is all this is about.