Barry Haase (Kalgoorlie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. Would the minister inform the House how incidents of workplace bullying and coercion have been reduced by workplace relations reforms? Is the minister aware of any alternative policies that would put these preventative measures at risk?

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

I thank the member for Kalgoorlie for his question. I thoroughly enjoy visiting his electorate, which has 3.4 per cent unemployment and is certainly a revenue bowl for the nation. As the member for Kalgoorlie knows, the construction industry is very important to the mining industry. That is how we are able to take advantage of the ripe global opportunity and take advantage of the resources boom. Construction is a crucial part of that equation, and the Howard government has got the balance right. When we identified some years ago that there was a level of corruption and thuggery in the building industry, we initiated a royal commission and responded directly by putting in place stronger laws and a fully independent watchdog to ensure that thuggery and corruption were not part and parcel of the building industry in Australia—and our timing was very good.

There has been a lot of talk today about productivity, and I would like to add my little bit. In fact, I would like to say something about John Holland. A document from John Holland says that Australian workplace agreements are essential for the $90 billion construction sector to achieve further productivity gains of up to 20 per cent. Hang on, the Leader of the Opposition is in this place complaining about low productivity, and his own policies threaten productivity improvements in the construction industry. That is why you have to look carefully at what Labor does, not at what it says. You have to look carefully. That applies in its tough talk with union bosses. We have seen, when it comes to the construction industry, the behaviour of Dean Mighell—the head of the Electrical Trades Union in Victoria—and we all remember the Leader of the Opposition saying, ‘I’m so outraged about Dean Mighell’s behaviour, I am going to have him sacked from the Labor Party.’

There has been an eerie silence about the behaviour in Western Australia of Joe McDonald and Kevin Reynolds, of the CFMEU. Bear in mind that the CFMEU are the single biggest donors to any political party in Australia, and I will give you a hint, Mr Speaker: it is not the Liberal Party, it is not the National Party and—it’s hard to believe—it is not even the Greens. The CFMEU are the biggest bankrollers of the Labor Party in Australia. We saw a report today about the behaviour of the people in the CFMEU, our Labor Party royal family. A report today says, ‘Union men caught on tape heaping abuse on manager’. I am not going to repeat the words that they used on the building site. I think that is unparliamentary and I think we have heard enough of various expletives, even though I can say that our old friend Joe McDonald was calling a builder an expletive thieving parasite dog who would end up working at Hungry Jack’s should there be a change of government. That is what he is about. After seven minutes of abuse, where Mr Dave Noonan, the head of the CFMEU; Joe McDonald; and three others took a posse to a building site in Western Australia to close down the building site—they were so concerned about productivity that they were trying to close down the site—

Julia Irwin (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mrs Irwin interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Fowler is warned!

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

Leading the charge was Dave Noonan, the head of the CFMEU. I thought, ‘Dave Noonan; that is a familiar name.’ I thought to myself, ‘I saw a weekend report about Dave Noonan.’ That report said that the Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition were at a Labor Party fundraiser in Brisbane last Friday at the Hilton Hotel, ‘over asparagus spears with Tasmanian salmon and rib fillet with oxtail ragout’.

Government Member:

Dinner with the workers!

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

Yes, dinner with the battlers at the Hilton Hotel, over Tasmanian salmon and rib fillet—at $5,000 a table! They said there were construction people there, but do you know who was there? Dave Noonan. Imagine if you were the poor old builder in Western Australia, you had Dave Noonan trying to close down your site 12 months ago, you paid $5,000 to the Labor Party, and he is sitting next to you at lunch! Can you imagine that? That is not value for money. I will tell you what that is. That is proof positive that Dave Noonan, the CFMEU and the union bosses are front and centre of the Labor Party. They are the heart and soul of the Labor Party. If these people can get away with behaving in a thuggish manner under our laws and our independent watchdog, what do you think they will do should Kevin Rudd be elected? It will be free rein for the union bosses on construction sites around Australia, and if you want to know what that means for productivity just go and ask John Holland.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I remind the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations that he should refer to the Leader of the Opposition by his title.