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

The Heydon royal commission has found a 'culture of wilful defiance of the law which appears to lie at the core of the CFMEU'. That commission has heard recordings of death threats and other threats of violence made by senior CFMEU officials. There have recently been 72 CFMEU officials before the courts at once, including the national secretary and several state secretaries. Victoria Police has confirmed it has intelligence showing that the CFMEU has organised crime figures to act as debt collectors, and outlaw bikie gangs to engage in activity on their behalf—engagements that often involve commissions of serious crime. This is the union that continues to donate millions of dollars to Mr Shorten's Labor Party. And the Labor Party, in turn, rolls its frontbenchers into Senate estimates to defend the CFMEU. It is time for Mr Shorten to show national leadership.