Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Fair Work Amendment (Corrupting Benefits) Bill 2017. This bill will make it unlawful for unions to take payments from companies who sell out their workers. In my past life, I was a lawyer—I would say that I am still a lawyer; I still pay my fees. When you pay a lawyer to represent you, you trust that they will represent you fairly. You trust that they will not take payments from both parties in a dispute during negotiations, because you have paid your money to them to represent you. This is not a difficult concept to understand. It is, in fact, very, very simple. Yet somehow those members opposite and their union bosses still appear to have difficulty wrapping their heads around this very simple concept.

Research agency Roy Morgan released a report at the start of the year that estimated that some 15 to 17 per cent of the Australian workforce is a member of a union. This is a record low. And yet at least 50 per cent of the Labor Party's candidates are chosen by the unions. This defies belief. How can you run 50 per cent of your candidates in an election with ties to a movement that represents only 15 per cent of the population? The maths of that equation do not stand up to scrutiny.

We must ask ourselves: 'Why is it that the Australian public, as educated and hardworking—some entrepreneurial, some not—as they are, have abandoned the union movement?' I think it is simple. The Australian people do not enjoy being lectured to by hypocrites—and that is exactly what the modern union movement and its political arm in the Labor Party seek to do.

Time and time again, unions have eroded the trust that workers have placed in them because of the secret payments, the militant behaviour and the perception that they no longer care about the average Australian worker. This does stand up to scrutiny. Unions do not represent the lowest paid workers in this country—not anymore. In fact, they are barely representative of the construction sector. They no longer enjoy the support of public opinion and they are overly represented by bureaucrats in the public sector.

The largest percentage of union membership is made up of workers earning somewhere between $80,000 and $100,000, well above the national average. These are hardly the struggling battlers the unions fraudulently claim to represent. This is the great falsehood of the union movement, and the Labor Party by its very extension. They claim to be representing the lowest-paid workers in our country. They claim to be fighting for a fairer deal for Australia's most disadvantaged, but they are routinely selling out their own members. And this is what this bill that we are debating today is all about. It is theft from the most vulnerable people in this country—exploitation of their hopes and fears. It is theft from Australians who can least afford to pay union fees. In fact, many have no choice as to whether they pay these fees or not. Such is the nature of the modern day union movement, and it is shameful.

It is truly sickening that the Labor Party have the gall to stand in this House and pretend to stand up for the lowest-paid workers in this country. They criticise this government, when they have long ago abandoned any credibility on this issue. The Heydon royal commission uncovered a raft of payments between unions and employers that were designed to ensure that some companies—not all companies, but just some really special companies—were given special treatment to ensure that they did not become a target for militant union industrial action. This is blatant, gun-to-the-head-type negotiations. The flow-on effects of this to the Australian economy are real and they are measurable. A good example of this, according to the Master Builders Association of Queensland, is that union activity can add up to an extra 30 per cent on the cost of building a house.

I think that one of the most disturbing developments from the Heydon royal commission was the payments made to the AWU Victoria—the member for Maribyrnong and Leader of the Opposition's very own union. This is the man who is styling himself as the alternative leader of the country and leading those opposite. He is styling himself as the man who will represent Australia on the world stage. This is the man who has orchestrated the taking of secret payments from organisations like Clean Event and sold out the workers he claims to represent. These are people who are very hard working, and their working conditions are extreme.

Thankfully, we have introduced this legislation to ban these secret payments between business and unions, and to require disclosure of any legitimate payments. This is a simple and efficient measure, as recommended by the Heydon royal commission, to make unions more accountable and more accessible.

It is truly disturbing that these corrupting benefits, as the Heydon commission called them, have been identified in successive royal commissions into union activity since 1982.

Mr Dick interjecting—

I will take that interjection from the previous speaker. Yes, perhaps we should have done something earlier. I accept that. But, thankfully, we are doing something now and it is good to see the Labor Party are considering joining forces with us.

This simply reinforces the fact that unions are out of touch and no longer represent the members who pay their fees. They have long ago abandoned these workers and are looking out solely to feather their own nests. As we have heard time and time again more recently in this House, they have more in common with the big end of town than what we do and more in common with the big employers. In fact, we may actually be doing those opposite a favour with respect to this legislation, because as the doors are flung open this could very well restore some faith in the union movement. Let's hope the cobwebs are swept out.

Clearly, as we have heard from members opposite, included in their talking points for this particular debate has been the discussion about targeting workers and the lowest paid in our society with cuts to penalty rates. I mean, if they really cared about the lowest-paid workers in this country they would have done something themselves about what we are discussing here today.

It is truly amazing, the length and breadth of the hypocrisy of those opposite on workplace relations. It really is stunning. The Leader of the Opposition sets up a Fair Work Commission and puts his mates on it to investigate penalty rates in this country. He says time and time again, together with other leaders on the other side, that he will respect its decision. The problem was it was the wrong decision. So, therefore, it could not be supported. Come on! Give us a break! It hands down its decision, and suddenly it is the coalition attacking workers. The hypocrisy is just unbelievable.

I do have some news for those opposite. You do not represent workers anymore. I see it time and time again. You do not represent the public of Australia anymore. You are out of touch and bordering on irrelevancy. My dear grandad, a man called David Dellar, was a WA state Labor politician in the 1960s. He was a very good man who worked hard. He represented the people who really needed good representation. He would be ashamed of what the Labor Party has become today.

To avoid accusations of attacking workers from those opposite, let me assure you that in this bill the measures apply equal punishment to the companies and employers who agree to a backroom deal with the union as the union boss who makes the deal. As we know, it does take two to tango. We plan on ensuring that corruption is stamped out at all levels because we know that corruption, productivity and performance cannot coexist. On this side, we know that the Australian public deserves no less, and that is why we are introducing this bill.

This measure will help instil some faith back into the union movement, which has been shaken by scandal after scandal and has hopelessly lost its way. We know that 50 per cent of those opposite will agree and, possibly, 50 per cent of those opposite will not agree. But I do encourage those members opposite to support this bill and support those lowest-paid workers who they claim to represent. They have not done so in many years, but it is never too late to start.

I commend this bill to the House.

See this speech in context