Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

When it was put to him about Joe McDonald, Kevin Reynolds said: ‘I’ve noticed there’s a couple of other union officials been arrested for being involved in a punch-up and they are members of the Labor Party and I’m sure he’ll have to deal with them now. Well, he has to.’ That is Kevin Reynolds—still a member of the Labor Party. Kevin Reynolds says that there are two NUW officials currently with charges before the court, and now Kevin Reynolds is calling on the Leader of the Opposition to take action and draw a line in the sand—zero tolerance.

This is thick with hypocrisy. Dean Mighell was thrown out of the Labor Party for swearing, and yet the secretary of the Victorian ALP said, ‘After the election he’ll be back.’ The Leader of the Opposition said, ‘Not only are we throwing out the individual; we’re going to send the money back to the ETU.’ We have seen no receipt. No-one has seen any receipt. The money never went back to the ETU; it is still sitting in Labor Party coffers. Today, after he has seen a videotape of Joe McDonald, despite numerous previous convictions for intimidation and thuggery, now suddenly the Leader of the Opposition tends to believe he has to draw a line in the sand. ‘Zero tolerance,’ he says. That is not zero tolerance. Zero tolerance is getting rid of the links between the Labor Party and the union movement; zero tolerance is not accepting union money; zero tolerance is not accepting union candidates in seats; and zero tolerance is tearing up the Labor Party’s industrial relations laws.

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