Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

We saw the hypocrisy of this Leader of the Opposition when he was secretary of the AWU, where he presided over deals where hundreds of thousands of dollars were paid to his union to the benefit of the union bosses, without telling workers about it. At the same time, he was negotiating away the conditions of those workers. This is the Leader of the Opposition: he wants to pretend one thing in this place, he wants the Australian people to believe one thing, but the reality is the opposite. This Leader of the Opposition has demonstrated in his current position and throughout his working life that he will take advantage of any situation to the benefit of unions, and that is why the CFMEU and others completely own and operate this Labor Party. They have contributed $10 million to this Labor Party over recent years, and it is why this Leader of the Opposition is in here, day in, day out, prosecuting the cause of union bosses. I see the former Deputy Prime Minister Brian Howe up in the gallery today. He was part of a government that actually represented workers. He was part of a government that had members of parliament in the Labor Party who had had real jobs. The reality is, when you look at these union bosses, when you look at them starting from their leader down, they have not represented the interests of workers. They have not stood up for workers; they continue on each and every occasion to stand up for the union bosses ahead of the interests of the union workers, and this Leader of the Opposition stands condemned. (Time expired)

Honourable members interjecting—

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