Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to speak about the report of the Education and Employment References Committee on the provisions of the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment Bill 2013. I do so as a proxy for Senator Back, who participated in this inquiry, who is tied up chairing another committee right now. In his conversations with me throughout this inquiry, he felt quite aggrieved that we had actually been drawn into this, because, as we have just been told by Senator Macdonald, this is just a frolic on the part of the Labor and Greens alliance on the other side. They are just hanging on to that last little bit of their power in here until 30 June. They exercised that, and I do not know—I have no idea—how much this inquiry cost.

An inquiry was conducted and the report tabled in December last year by the legislation committee. It made recommendations, and quite rightly so. This was an opportunity for the Labor Party to reform themselves and say to the Australian people, after the thumping that they got on 7 September last year, 'Yes, we understand that you reject what we are and what we stand for.' The Australian people said, 'We don't want any organisations to be corrupt or corruptible.' These are the recommendations—