Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

Yet again, yes, I am. Colleagues will be interested to know that between 2007 and 2013 the previous Labor government gave colleagues $27 million in grants to unions and union peak bodies in the employment portfolio alone—but get this—to support the unions in carrying out their core business. As I say, nice deal, if you can get one from Labor. The bulk of this money was provided by guess who? The now Leader of the Opposition, Mr Shorten, when he was the Minister for Employment.

During this time, Mr Shorten authorised an $11 million grant to his friends at the ACTU—$11 million. It was supposedly for a 10-year contract to run from 2012 to 2022. But get this: it came from the former Labor government's Productivity Education and Training Fund, also known as the PET Fund or, as it was coined, 'Mr Shorten's PET Fund'. From Mr Shorten's PET Fund, he took $11 million and handed it over to the ACTU. This funding was meant to be used for the ACTU to train union officials and educate them about the workplace relations system. I would have thought that was core business and that the unions should have been doing that in any event, but Mr Shorten thought they needed $11 million extra of taxpayers' money.

It gets better. Mr Shorten gave them an up-front payment of $11 million, when the whole thing was meant to go for 10 years. He advanced them $11 million up front when it was meant to go for 10 years. (Time expired)