Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'll take that interjection from the member for Solomon. As I said earlier, in another speech, I've spoken about this very thing 65 times in eight years. I've watched the now Leader of the Opposition talk about the criminal element he was exposed to at the CFMEU and the lawlessness in the CFMEU when he was the home affairs minister. Yet those members opposite pretend it never happened.

If you don't believe me and if you don't believe the Leader of the Opposition, let's just have a look at some of the cases that have been handed down in relation to the CFMEU. Now, I know the member for Watson was an ardent critic of the ABCC. The Labor Party, when they were last in government, got rid of the ABCC. And when they came back into government again in 2022 they got rid of it again, after we'd put it back in place. To sit here during the MPI and listen to the members of the government defend the actions of the CFMEU—it just beggars belief. I mean, if they want to defend the actions of the CFMEU, why are we having this administration bill? They've learnt nothing, because we know that, to their very core, Labor will always support the CFMEU.

Getting back to the ABCC: I know the member for Watson has been very critical. And the member for Watson should know—full disclosure—that I went to school with the previous commissioner of the ABCC, Stephen McBurney. Stephen McBurney is quoted as saying that the CFMEU made up $15.8 million, or 90 per cent, of the total penalties that were handed down by the ABCC. The Fair Work Ombudsman said on Thursday that since December 2022 it had secured additional penalties of more than $3½ million in cases picked up from the ABCC, the large majority of which were against the CFMEU or its officials.

We've heard and heard and heard and heard, over the eight years I've been in this place, the member for Watson and all those members opposite talking about how ineffectual the ABCC was and how it was picking up people for wearing stickers on their helmets or flying flags. That doesn't equate with the facts. The Federal Court has handed down $15.8 million in fines to the CFMEU and its officials. Are those members opposite kidding themselves, thinking that the Federal Court fined CFMEU officials and the CFMEU $15.8 million because they wore stickers on their helmets or because they flew flags? No. What we have seen, as a result of the expose of Nine, is just a sliver of the criminal conduct that is occurring on building sites in every state and territory of this country.

When John Howard became Prime Minister, he abolished the concept of 'no ticket, no start'. He believed in the importance of freedom of association and enshrined that in legislation, yet that is a constant breach that CFMEU officials continue to make. And then, of course, there's the third line forcing. There's the practice of bullying—not just giving someone a bit of a hard time but getting in people's faces and abusing them with the worst vile language.

Those members opposite talk about the importance of a respectful workplace. When we were in government, those members opposite drove a campaign against the Morrison government about having a problem with women and ensuring a safe workplace; all the while, men and women of this country are turning up onto building sites and are being abused—the worst kind of vile abuse in people's faces, with shocking language being used. People are being forced off sites. Mum and dad businesses are being locked out, not just of a particular site but of all sites that are controlled by the CFMEU. It's that sort of illegal conduct that has been identified in this recent expose. It's that sort of conduct that the courts have been talking about for two decades, and yet still those members opposite had no idea, apparently. It came as a shock.

And the Greens come in here today and talk about their support for the CFMEU. So, whilst the Labor Party has finally been dragged to this position of bringing in this administration bill, the first iteration of which was fundamentally flawed—and kudos to Senator Cash for standing her ground and forcing not one, not five, not 10, not 15 but 20 sensible amendments to that bill—the Greens come in here today still supporting the CFMEU. After everything that we have talked about, all of the bullying and harassment and illegal conduct, they still come in here.

We know that the Labor Party has received $6.2 million, since the Prime Minister became the Leader of the Labor Party, in donations from the CFMEU. How much have the Greens received?

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