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

I thank Senator Back for a policy question. A report headlined 'CFMEU rolls dice on Bill Shorten in China' shows exactly how worryingly deep the relationship is between the Leader of the Opposition and this corrupt union, the CFMEU. The CFMEU—a former official of which is the leader of the Labor Party in here—has bankrolled the ALP to the tune of $6.4 million since 2007. The report tells us further:

The cashed-up Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union has rolled the dice on a multimillion-dollar survival strategy: getting Bill Shorten elected prime minister.

At the recent ALP conference, Mr Shorten did a deal with the CFMEU to preserve his position as leader, and now the corrupt CFMEU is demanding the favour be returned. The Leader of the Opposition will be judged by the company he keeps. The CFMEU is Australia's most corrupt union. The interim report of the Heydon royal commission recommended that two of its state secretaries be charged with serious criminal offences and that a third was not a fit and proper person to hold the office he held. Three of its officials have recently been arrested in relation to serious allegations of blackmail and intimidation.

The Leader of the Opposition has not only outsourced his workplace relations policy to this the most corrupt of unions, the CFMEU; he has also outsourced his trade policy, his political strategy and his political backbone to Australia's most corrupt union. We as the coalition will stand firm against union corruption. (Time expired)