Jamie Briggs (Mayo, Liberal Party, Chairman of the Scrutiny of Government Waste Committee) Share this | Hansard source

I strongly oppose the Road Safety Remuneration Bill. It is a veiled attempt by the Labor Party to give more power to its union mates; it is an attempt cloaked in a pretend effort to improve safety for Australians on the roads. It is typical of the modern Labor Party and how low and contemptible they have become that they would use the deaths of people on roads, the wives and husbands and families of people who have died on roads, as part of a political campaign to increase the power and reach of trade unions in this country, with all the benefits that has for the Australian Labor Party. It is one of the worst pieces of legislation we are likely to see from the Labor Party in this parliament, which is saying something.

We heard the Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and Transport and member for Ballarat using all those catchcry Labor words such as 'safe' and 'fair', suggesting that if you are opposed to this legislation then you are for cancer. It is the typical Labor way—you cannot oppose anything that they put 'safe' or 'fair' in front of because when they do that they are automatically morally superior to anyone else in this place who argues that legislation is bad and is not going to achieve anything it has set out to do. There is not once skerrick of proof in the bill or the supporting evidence or the submissions to any of the inquiries that paying someone more will increase the safety of people on the roads.

How do we know that this is a power grab for the trade union movement? Because the legislation has been given to the minister for trade union mates. It started with the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. If it was a genuine attempt at road safety, you would say that would be a reasonable ministry to be looking after this bill

But then, very shortly after, just before the bill appeared in the House, it was handed to the new minister for union power and mates. The new minister for union power and mates will use lots of words and talk about how he is the worker's friend, how this is all about ensuring that the worker is protected and how Australian roads are being made safer for the public. But, as so often with the modern Australian Labor Party, this bill is really about protecting the vested interests they stand for in this place. They do not stand for the Australian worker; they stand for vested interests. They are about ensuring that they continue to get political benefit out of the workers who pay their union fees.

How do we know that? We need look no further than the member for Dobell and what he did with a corporate credit card from the trade union movement. The HSU represents workers who push trolleys around hospitals. Those workers pay their levies to ensure they have some industrial protection. Instead, expenses of over $100,000 were incurred in very questionable ways—details of which have yet to be revealed by an investigation which seems to be taking as long as the Second World War. This is the modern Labor Party and what they stand for. They are all about vested interests. Here is the member for Throsby—another one who stands for vested interests.

See this speech in context