George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Bernardi—again, a very relevant question. As I have just told you, we are committed to reinstating a penalty regime that has teeth. We are dealing with this problem, but we do not have a solution, because we cannot get our solution through the Senate. It is up to the Senate to pass legislation to re-establish the ABCC, to bring back an effective regulator which has appropriate powers to enforce laws, and to amend the act to reinstate the meaningful penalties—the penalties with some deterrent impact—which the Labor Party will not allow us to reinstate. We believe, Senator Bernardi, as I know you do, that union officials should advocate for their members, but we also believe that that should be done lawfully. We believe it should be done lawfully and, when there is a serial pattern of conduct of disregard and contempt for the law, it is up to this legislature to deal with it.