Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

In relation to the amendments, without the government's amendments Labor's proposed amendments would create a huge loophole for employers who want to contribute to make secret payments. This would mean that anyone who was once employed by an employer would then be free to receive any payment from that employer, even if the payment has no relevance to their former employment and they are working for the union. One such example of an arrangement was uncovered by the royal commission. In this case, a worker resigned from Huntsman Corporation to take up a job as an AWU organiser in a deal engineered by none other than the Leader of the Opposition. Mr Bugg was paid by the company as an organiser, but large parts of the payments, ostensibly for his wages, were channelled into the AWU's general revenue. We cannot support these types of arrangements being hidden from workers, and so we do not support Labor's amendments.

In relation to the payments for nominal value, without the government's amendment, Labor's proposed amendment would provide no cap on the size of the payments that can be transferred between union officials and employers. Again, it creates a massive loophole. It's not at all clear what would constitute a nominal payment in the context of travel or hospitality, which are generally costly gifts. Would a nominal gift of travel include an employer lending a private jet to a union secretary to take private holidays in Cuba? Unfortunately, that's not far-fetched, because that is exactly what happened in terms of the Leader of the Opposition while he was a union boss negotiating an enterprise agreement.

Any travel or related costs that are genuinely associated with bargaining or other roles of registered organisations will not be affected by the bill. What our amendment seeks to do is to ensure that the term 'nominal payments' actually does refer to small amounts, and we are proposing that gifts of up to two penalty units—$420—would be nominal gifts. We would seek the support of the chamber to clarify those two amendments put by Labor.