Liberal Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells said in 2006, while the series was still in production, that it "smacks of another example of wasteful spending by the ABC, being used to drive an anti-government, pro-left agenda, conveniently timed to appear during an election year". Journalist Michael Duffy described the series as "the most blatant union propaganda" and was critical that "80 per cent of the story is told from the union point of view". "The Ages Debi Enker, however, described it as a "thoughtful, illuminating and superbly cast account of a seminal event in our recent history represents exactly the kind of drama that one would want the national broadcaster to nurture."