Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source

Regrettably, as the Cole royal commission found and as Labor's own hand-picked reviewer Justice Wilcox found, there is industrial unlawfulness in the building and construction industry Australia-wide, especially in Victoria and Western Australia. Indeed, Joe McDonald, the CFMEU National President, has personally cost the union more than $1 million in fines since 2005 for illegal activities in the west. In the most recent case he was fined $193,000 after he ignored a request to leave a site. When he was asked to leave, Mr McDonald's reply was: 'I haven't had one for seven years and that hasn't'—expletive deleted—'stopped me.' These incidents show that we do need the Australian Building and Construction Commission reinstituted and the right of entry laws changed as Labor promised they would remain. (Time expired)