Tyron Whitten (WA, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on Senator Bragg's matter of public importance—yet another failure of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's Labor government. The CFMEU is a union long associated with corruption, intimidation and thuggery. Now, if the CFMEU were genuinely focused on the safety and welfare of its members, I'd stand with it. If it were fighting for fair pay and decent conditions for workers, I'd back it every step of the way. But that's not what it is about, not from what I've seen reported. It uses fear and force to get its way. Just look at the footage from Melbourne—its own members turning on it after the union sold them out for cash at the start of COVID. That betrayal shattered lives, and for what? A payday.

This union doesn't stand for workers. It stands for power and profit. If it gets its claws into the domestic housing market, you can kiss the dream of affordable homeownership goodbye. Costs will skyrocket. On a normal building site, it's not unusual to see a tradesman or tradeswoman sitting on a sack of bricks, eating a pie, but once the CFMEU gets involved you'll need a fully decked out lunchroom, air-conditioning, amenities—the works—even on residential blocks. And who is going to pay for that? Well, you know the answer: the homeowner. We can debate comfort and convenience all day, but at the end of it someone foots the bill, and under Labor and the CFMEU it's everyday Australians aspiring to own their own home who will lose.