Ms GILLARD (Lalor—Prime Minister) (13:56): To the question from the opposition I say: this continues the pattern of yesterday and it continues its pattern of seeking to mislead the Australian people over this dispute for its base political interests, because it is obviously softening up the ground to try to sell to the Australian people a reintroduction of Work Choices. Given the fact that the member who asked the question is misleading and in a pattern of misleading, I refer him to something that happened yesterday morning. That is when Alan Joyce went on Radio National. The member who asked the question should have known about this interview—indeed, he probably did—but there is this pattern of misleading going on. There was the article in the Daily Telegraph yesterday morning that suggested that somehow Alan Joyce was waiting for a call from me. Alan Joyce was asked about this on Radio National yesterday. The question from the interviewer Fran Kelly was: 'Alan Joyce, is it true that the fleet would never have been grounded if the Prime Minister had taken your call'— Mr Pyne: Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The question was very short and specific. It was not about whether the Prime Minister returned Alan Joyce's call or took his call; it was why she did not pick up the phone to ring Qantas to try to avert this crisis. The SPEAKER: The Prime Minister is answering the question, and I think that the people behind the member for Sturt showed what value they placed on the point of order. It would assist the House if people sat there quietly, engaged and listened—even to the people who asked the question so they could remember the whole question. The Prime Minister will be directly relevant to the question. I would appreciate less debate in responses, but I say to those asking the questions: they have been replete in argument. The Prime Minister has the call. Ms GILLARD: Thank you very much. I am going directly to the question of telephone calls. I know that the facts and the truth are inconvenient for the opposition, but these are the facts. Alan Joyce was asked, 'Is it true that you would not have grounded the fleet if the Prime Minister had taken your call during the CHOGM meeting and promised to intervene directly to end this dispute?' Alan Joyce, in response: There is misquotes and misinformation on it. We had talked to three senior ministers. I had no expectation to talk to the Prime Minister. I knew that she was tied up in CHOGM. We had talked to the appropriate ministers … Then Fran Kelly comes back again: 'So you weren't waiting on the Prime Minister's call?' 'No. Absolutely not. That is completely misaccurately reported.' So misrepresentation No. 1 from the opposition is that somehow a discussion between me and Alan Joyce on Saturday afternoon would have changed Qantas's decision. That is not true, and every member of the opposition who says it is telling the Australian people something that is not true. Qantas determined to ground its fleet on Saturday morning. It determined to engage in a lockout and ground its fleet. We have been critical of that decision. The opposition have not uttered one word of criticism about that. The Qantas decision was the wrong decision: it was the wrong decision by members of the travelling public; it was the wrong decision by the Australian economy. The Leader of the Opposition utters not one word of criticism of Qantas and seeks to mislead the Australian people about the circumstances of this dispute. And then the opposition, yesterday and today, continue to mislead the Australian people about the provisions of the Fair Work Act, pretending that section 431 is something that can be instantaneously turned on without the minister engaging in a proper process and something that is not subject to legal review. In doing that they seek to mislead the Australian people. Now, Mr Speaker, you would ask yourself: why are they seeking to mislead the Australian people about all of this? Why don't they utter a word of criticism about Qantas's decision to lock workers out and ground its fleet? I will leave that for the Leader of the Opposition to answer, but I would suggest to him that, for a man who has been calling for details and the full record of events, he would want to be more fulsome and more direct in his answers to media questions than has been on display today.