Jo Lindgren (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I accept that and I apologise. This time he and his best mate, Cesar Melhem, were apparently involved in false invoices and the Industry 2020 slush fund. The private details of over 300 construction workers were leaked by the construction industry superannuation fund, Cbus, to the CFMEU. As a result of these leaks, construction workers were contacted, intimidated and threatened by CFMEU officials.

Allegations were made in the royal commission that the CFMEU had threatened contractors at the Pentridge Village residential development site to sign a CFMEU enterprise agreement and had pressured construction workers to join the union or otherwise face being black-banned. ACT Police arrested a former construction union organiser and previous Labor Party sub-branch president after he admitted to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in payments from tradesmen to help them win work. Could it be these types of truth bombs that have the Labor Party and their union mates running scared? The lady in this case, Senator Wong, doth protest too much, methinks!

The grandstanding by those opposite is a diversion tactic that is distracting attention from the real issue—the ALP and their union mates. They deny everything, admit nothing and make counteraccusations. First they thought they had an escape mechanism by highlighting that Justice Heydon was to be the keynote speaker at the Sir Garfield Barwick address. It should be noted that none of the Barwick lectures are of a political nature. They are of a legal or constitutional nature. The audience of the lecture is the NSW Bar Association. No profit is made. No funds are raised. The event is not designed to run at a profit or a loss. This is clearly not a political fundraiser. Those opposite have been known to draw a long bow, but this takes the cake.

Those opposite are trying to suggest that another way Justice Heydon is implicated in political bias is that he was on a panel that selected the Prime Minister as a Rhodes scholar some 35 years ago. Justice Heydon is a Rhodes scholar and not a unionist who gives out awards to his mates. Justice Heydon in 1980 did not have a magical crystal ball to look into the future. But I bet if the ALP had a crystal ball they would have never put up Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard or the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, as their leaders. I wonder how many government appointments made by the other side, royal commissioner or otherwise, have had a connection to the Labor Party or unions. I say to those opposite: move on, move forward and let the royal commission do its job. Let Australia's most eminent legal mind and a long overdue inquiry clean up the pathetic, tragic injustice of union corruption.