Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence Industry representing the Minister for Employment. Will the Minister outline to the House why corrupting benefits, as described by the Heydon royal commission, should be outlawed? Are there any alternative approaches?

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Menzies for his question. Of course corrupting benefits should be banned in this country. The Heydon royal commission recommended that corrupting benefits should be removed from the system. This government is taking action to ban corrupting benefit payments and make it a criminal activity.

Let's put this in some context for the member for Menzies and for the rest of the House. The really hideous example of what went on at the AWU under this bloke over here, under this Leader of the Opposition, is that of the Cleanevent workers. We call them 'the Cleanevent workers', but let's look at what these people do. These are amongst the lowest-paid workers in the country, doing one of the toughest jobs. These are the people that turn up after an event—at the bachelor and spinster balls in South Australia, or the race days—and clean out the vomit from the portaloos, empty the toilets, take away the empty beer cans and the plastic mugs and try and put the place back into shape again. They are the lowest-paid workers in the community doing one of the toughest jobs. This bloke sold them down the river. These were the people who got paid 176 per cent less under the EBA that this man signed than they would have if they had had the award. And he has the hide to come into this chamber and lecture us about integrity and honesty and looking after the workers.

Do you know what the AWU got in return? They got a $75,000 cash payment, and they got lists—really important lists—so that the Leader of the Opposition could expand his power in the ALP in Victoria, so he could use those lists to pretend they were members of the union, to sign them up to the AWU. Nobody was told about this practice, but it was a practice that expanded his percentage on the floor of the state conference in the Victorian ALP. It was a power he used to try and wipe out people in this place, like the former member for Maribyrnong, Bob Sercombe, who was a very decent fellow. He was wiped out of here. The member for Corio tried it on as well, and they tried to get rid of Simon Crean, if you remember, for those of us who were in the House then, but he fought them of. He fought off the branch stackers and the faction led by this Leader of the Opposition, who had used the Cleanevent workers to gain power, to gain cash for his union. That is the practice that we want to stamp out, and he has the hide to send this pathetic attack dog into the House to attack the Prime Minister.