Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I on this last day of sittings for 2013 acknowledge that it is the last day of the parliament sitting when the Clerk will be in his current position. We look forward to commenting on his long service later on in the day.

I rise to close the debate on the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment Bill 2013. I would like to thank all the members for their contributions to the debate. The recent HSU scandals, as well as the slush funds in the Transport Workers Union; the Australian Workers Union; the National Union of Workers; the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union; the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association; the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union; and the Electrical Trades Union shows us that a stronger compliance regime and a more effective regulator, as introduced by this bill, are absolutely essential.

Many registered organisations control assets worth millions of dollars. They are effectively dealing with cash flow and investments similar to those of large businesses. Consequently, members of unions, employer associations and the community want and deserve to have confidence that their registered organisations are being properly regulated and will be subject to swift action in the event of any wrongdoing.

This bill establishes the independent Registered Organisations Commission and provides it with robust investigative and information gathering powers. It enables the commission to educate and provide advice to registered organisations and their members.

The bill also introduces stronger reporting and disclosure requirements for organisations and their officers, significantly higher civil penalties as well as a number of criminal penalties. These penalties are in line with those facing companies and directors under the Corporations Act. The government firmly believes that there should be alignment between the maximum penalties levied against a company director who misuses shareholder funds and the boss of a registered organisation who misuses members' money.

Labor has failed to explain why the principle 'same crime, same time' should not apply in this instance. Confusingly, most Labor members who have spoken on the debate have stated that the amendments brought in by the Labor Party in 2012 went far enough, before going on to take task with four issues: that the disclosure requirements for officers of registered organisations are too invasive and go further than the Corporations Act; that the disclosure requirements for officers of registered organisations include the reporting of family members' income and assets; that the disclosure requirements for officers of registered organisations capture the whole governing body and need to be reported to the entire membership; and that there is no discretion on the training for officers.

Members opposite would be interested to learn that all of these requirements were contained in the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment Bill circulated earlier this year by the authority of the then minister, the member for Maribyrnong. To assist those opposite let me quote the member for Maribyrnong in introducing that bill. He said:

This bill will require the rules of registered organisations to provide for the disclosure of remuneration, including board fees, of the five highest paid officials of the organisation as well as the two highest paid in each branch, to the members of the organisation. Determining the five highest paid officials will be based upon monetary remuneration rather than non-cash benefits. However, where an official's remuneration is required to be disclosed, that disclosure will require non-cash benefits paid to the official to be identified.

He went on to say:

Under the amendments proposed by the government—

Meaning the then government—

registered organisations will be required to amend their rules to provide for the disclosure of transactions between the organisation and related parties, which may include the family members of officials.

He said further:

To improve financial literacy within registered organisations, the rules of organisations will require each officer whose duties relate to the financial management of the organisation or the branch as the case may be to undertake approved training relating to the officials' financial management obligations.

So that it assists the members opposite, I would like to table an outline of those provisions of the previous government's legislation and how they are dealt with in the current bill that has been prepared. The government recognises the concerns that have been expressed by stakeholders about these requirements, which will come into effect on 1 January next year, courtesy of the member for Maribyrnong's bill, and will actively consider how to clean up his mess.

Importantly, the Senate Standing Committee on Education and Employment, in a report tabled on 2 December this year, made a number of recommendations in this regard that the government will actively consider. We welcome the opposition's expression of concerns about the member for Maribyrnong's drafting but suggest that those concerns should have been raised in the Labor caucus when the member for Maribyrnong sought to rush the bill through the parliament.

Opposition members have suggested that the new penalties will mean that they will have difficulty persuading people to take on official responsibilities. The government does not agree. Let me be very clear: the only people who have anything to worry about are dodgy union bosses or dodgy employer association bosses who do the wrong thing. The government believes that enhanced reporting and disclosure requirements will not do the job if they are not consistently and strongly enforced and the penalties for wrongdoing are not high enough to act as a deterrent.

The need for increased penalties has been recently noted in the comments by Federal Court Justice Anthony North, who is reported to have said that he was unhappy at the relatively small penalties on offer, particularly in relation to the cost of court proceedings. He said, 'The penalties are rather beneficially low; beneficial to wrongdoers.' Officers who are operating within the law, which is the overwhelming majority of them will continue to take on official responsibilities. The overwhelming number of officers who are already doing the right thing should be comforted in knowing that unlawful behaviour will be effectively dealt with, thus ensuring ongoing confidence in registered organisations as a whole.

Before concluding, I will point out once again that the coalition's policy has been supported by union bosses such as Paul Howes and Chris Brown as well as former ACTU secretaries Simon Crean and Martin Ferguson. Labor today will vote against this bill and against providing greater accountability and transparency to registered organisations. Instead of backing union members and those who do the right thing, the Labor Party will be backing dodgy union bosses who break the law and betray the trust of members. The government firmly believes that the bill sets the high standard that is essential for the governance and regulation of registered organisations and that passage of this legislation will be beneficial to registered organisations, their members and the Australian community. I thank all members for their participation in the debate. I table the schedules from the bill introduced by the member for Maribyrnong.

Question negatived.

Bill read a second time.

Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced.