Mr ROBERT BROWN (1:46 PM) —I simply want to record my very strong support for this amendment and for the comments that have been made by the shadow minister, the member for Canberra, Bob McMullan; the member for Throsby, Colin Hollis; and my colleague the member for Newcastle, Allan Morris, in connection with this. What we need to do is to accept this amendment and send a very clear message to those corporations out there that are in a legal frenzy at the present time restructuring themselves. I wonder what is going to be the position if we find that Burnie pulp mill has undertaken a restructuring exercise of this kind?

I do not want to embarrass the Parliamentary Secretary [Cabinet] to the Prime Minister, the honourable member for Braddon, Chris Miles, at the present time. He has the responsibility, I know, for representing the government in connection with this matter. But what if that is the position? There are hundreds of people down there ready to lose their jobs and if Burnie pulp mill has undertaken a restructuring exercise of this kind, a scam of this kind, to deny to those hundreds of employees their accumulated entitlements in long service leave, sickness benefits and so on, what then will be the position?

It is all right for us to say, `Let's delay this. Let's give reasonable consideration to this so that we can legislate more effectively about it.' We have got to do it now. The Senate said, `Let's do it now.' And, as the member for Newcastle said, as soon as we carry this amendment, it gives an indication to all of those people out there, `Do not try it, because we are a wake-up to you.' It was not just with Patrick. It was out at Cobar; it was down at Goulburn; it was up at Grafton. All of those arrangements have been put in place to deny workers their fundamental rights—really smart, bloody behaviour on the part of these scammers who will restructure the corporation to make sure that workers do not get their entitlements. We will not tolerate it; nor should this government.