Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation) Share this | Hansard source

In terms of the ancient matters to which I believe the Deputy Leader of the Opposition is referring, I can report that, whilst I was a very junior official for some of the time, I do know that my predecessors in the leadership of the AWU detected the problem and reported the problem—they reported it to three different police jurisdictions and they also reported it to the regulator. They also commissioned Ernst & Young to do a report, which was provided to the regulator. They took all steps.

The union detected the problem and they took all steps. If the opposition leader or, rather, Deputy Opposition Leader—I was getting ahead of myself there, sorry—is saying that she has something new to offer then, by all means, put it forward. What I would say—I am trying to think of an elegant way of saying it—is, 'Put up or,' you know the rest, 'leave it'.

We do our job. We believe in the role of registered organisations. Not only do we do that; we on this side of the House believe in standing up for workers. That is why we do not support Ted Baillieu's cuts to TAFE. That is why we do not support Campbell Newman cutting 25,000 jobs.

See this speech in context