Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

the Leader of the Opposition ought to have a very careful look at Kevin Harkins. You can take the word of the member for Franklin or you can take the word of the Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry, which found that Kevin Harkins had ‘engaged in unlawful conduct’. At the Melbourne Eastlands project he threatened a builder by saying, ‘If necessary, the union will block off the entrance to our site with a truck, in the middle of a concrete pour.’ That is the Labor candidate for Franklin. It is all very well to say, just because Joe McDonald got caught on video and you are embarrassed about it, that you want to do something about Joe McDonald, but I call on the leader of the Labor Party and the whole of the Labor Party to dissociate themselves from this ETU official, Kevin Harkins, to make it clear that they will stand up against thuggery, whether it is captured on videotape or not, and to immediately disendorse Kevin Harkins as the ALP candidate for Franklin.

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