Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today.

Well, what a day it has been! We have seen the government's attack dog on the Australian trade union movement having to resign—that is, Mr Nigel Hadgkiss, Minister Cash's attack dog. Before that he was former Minister Abetz and former Prime Minister Abbott's attack dog. The government owns Mr Hadgkiss lock, stock and barrel. The minister and those opposite own Mr Hadgkiss's reckless and deliberate breach of the Fair Work Act, which he admitted before the Federal Court yesterday, just as they and Senator Cash own his repeated lying to and misleading of the Senate in estimates and just as they own his contempt for the Senate. More than anyone else, Minister Cash owns the lying, dissembling and unlawfulness of Mr Hadgkiss. Despite repeated warnings about his conduct—

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Cameron, please resume your seat. Senator Brandis?

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

As you know, it is highly disorderly to cast reflections or imputations upon another senator. To suggest that Senator Cash, to use Senator Cameron's words, 'owns Mr Hadgkiss's alleged lying and unlawfulness' is a reflection upon Senator Cash, and it must be withdrawn.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Cameron, you just need to clarify whether that was a reflection on the minister. If it was, I'd ask you to withdraw it, or, if it wasn't, to make that clear in your statement.

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to make it clear that this is a reflection on Mr Hadgkiss. Mr Hadgkiss is the officer who is responsible to the minister and who has lied and dissembled to the Senate. That's the position. This is Mr Hadgkiss, who was appointed by this minister, Senator Cash. He was appointed previously by Senator Abetz, but he was appointed by Senator Cash to be an attack dog on the trade union movement. There's nothing more than that. Yet, despite warnings about his conduct as director of the former Fair Work Building and Construction, Minister Cash did not hesitate to appoint this man as Australian Building and Construction Commissioner when the ABCC bill passed this place last year.

It's no secret that I'm a trenchant critic of Mr Hadgkiss. I am critical of his incompetence when he was in that position. I am critical of his bias. I am critical of the strong smell of cronyism that accompanied the termination and appointment of SES officers in his agency. I am critical of his determined refusal to be accountable to the Senate and estimates hearings. I am critical of his repeated dishonesty and dissembling in his answers to questions put on notice to him in estimates. I am critical of his contempt of parliament. I am critical of his contempt for the Australian Public Service values and ethical standards. He was not, in my view, a fit and proper person to hold the office he held.

The minister can't say she wasn't warned about the perils of appointing this man as the ABCC commissioner. Senator Xenophon said in his contribution in the second reading debate on the ABCC bills:

I notice Senator Cameron has been a trenchant critic of the current director of the FWBC, Mr Hadgkiss, but I do have concerns about the way that office has been run, its impartiality and whether it has also adequately pursued employers who have not done the right thing and contravened the current legislative framework. That is an observation I make and I do not believe that it is a unfair one in terms of the conduct of the current director of that inspectorate.

This minister knew the problems with this guy. In the committee stage of the bill, Senator Xenophon went further. He went on to say:

To say that I am unimpressed with Mr Hadgkiss as a regulator would be an incredible understatement. … I have very serious concerns about the way he has been running the FWBC. I have very real concerns about the way he has been conducting himself and the way he has been operating and, who knows, there may well be a need for a separate Senate inquiry in relation to the conduct of Mr Hadgkiss, which I would very gladly support. I for one hope that he retires much, much sooner than later.

A couple of hours later Senator Xenophon said this:

The significance of this amendment is that it gives the right to issue a writ of mandamus against whomever is in the position as ABCC commissioner—and I hope it's still not Mr Hadgkiss—…

That wasn't the only criticism of Mr Hadgkiss there.

This minister wanted the attack dog on the trade union movement to be there and covered up for this officer. She knew for a year that he had recklessly misled, that he had breached the act and did nothing about it. Not only should Mr Hadgkiss have resigned today, but the minister should resign as well. She's responsible for him; she should resign; she should take responsibility for appointing someone who breached the law that he was supposed to make sure was complied with. (Time expired

David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, it's great to see Senator Cameron finally being prepared to come in here and actually criticise somebody for misconduct, but he is criticising the wrong person. Today, 13 September, far from being owned by the government, Justice Flick handed down fines for union lawlessness. If Senator Cameron wishes to come in here and talk about people who have broken the law and consequences, when is he going to start criticising the CFMEU for what Justice Flick has described in the most severe of terms?

At least Mr Hadgkiss has resigned. When is Senator Cameron going to call on the leader to the CFMEU to resign? We have a separation of powers in this country between the judiciary, the parliament and the government, and so Justice Flick in no way can be claimed to be the attack dog of the government. This is what he said:

It is difficult, if not impossible, to envisage any worse conduct than that pursued by the CFMEU. The CFMEU assumes a prominent role in the industrial affairs of this country and has consistently exhibited a contempt for compliance with the law.

…   …   …

… the CFMEU has long demonstrated by its conduct that it pays but little regard to compliance with the law and indeed has repeatedly sought to place itself above the law.

…   …   …

It is difficult to perceive how such conduct can be regarded as in the best interests of the bulk of its members and the workers it supposedly represents. Such conduct may promote the CFMEU as a “militant” union. But the constraints imposed by the law apply to all – including the CFMEU.

Now, that's not the minister and that's not somebody appointed to a commission; that's a judge who has made that comment in handing down record penalties to the CFMEU—to the CFMEU nationally, $1.326 million and to the CFMEU in New South Wales, $956,000 in fines. In addition to issuing those unprecedented penalties, Justice Flick also referred union officials Brian Parker, Luke Collier, Robert Kera and Tony Sloane to the Director of Public Prosecutions for possible criminal prosecution for allegedly giving false testimony during the proceedings.

We have here a case of great hypocrisy, where Senator Cameron stands up and criticises one individual who, by all accounts—it now appears to be a matter of record—broke the law, has been found guilty and, accordingly, has resigned. Those are the consequences of his action and the judgement of those opposite. But what Senator Cameron and colleagues on the other side of this place are not prepared to do is to come out and criticise the conduct of the CFMEU.

In his judgement today, Justice Flick found that over a long period of time they have consistently sought to place themselves above the law and have broken the law, and have been received with the most significant fines in Australia's history. Yet, do we hear a single word from those opposite, who are owned by the union movement in this country, to condemn, in any terms—let alone the strong terms that Senator Cameron has just used now about Mr Hadgkiss—the conduct of the CFMEU? It shows the rank hypocrisy of the Labor Party. They are totally owned by the union movement. If they have any decency and any respect for the rule of law in this country, they should come out and condemn, in at least as strong terms, the conduct of the CFMEU, nationally and in New South Wales and, as found in this case just handed down today, because of their actions on the site in Sydney.

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to also take note that we had no answers from ministers to questions from Labor senators. If you had hibernated for a few years and woke up now, you wouldn't believe the nonsense argument we are having in this country, the lack of inaction. Who would have thought Australia, the lucky country, would have one of the most ridiculous, soulless, gutless positions about our energy supply. We are a nation that is blessed with gas, coal, minerals, energy and fuel, and yet we have one of the lamest governments that we have ever had in this space.

I want to make one thing very clear—and I speak as Senator Glenn Sterle from WA, myself: I'm not anti-coal. But I have to cop abuse all the time because the Greens have got into this spin about how evil and dirty and filthy coal is. They don't care about the jobs that come off the end of it. We all agree we have to do something to lower the temperature of the planet because it's heating, and we have to do something to reduce man-made emissions. No-one is arguing about that. But what a ridiculous position we find ourselves in now. In fact, if you were a visitor to this country, you would wonder how we ever got out of the Dark Ages, out of the caves—for crying out loud.

While the Greens are attacking coal and fossil fuels, they don't mind the air-conditioned Commonwealth cars that bring them here each morning or having the heaters on at this time of year. I don't see too many of them riding a pushbike from their home states to Canberra. They all enjoy the luxury of a Qantas or a Virgin flight. Guess what? That burns a fossil fuel too. I can't believe I'm taking note of this sort of nonsense.

To get to the crux of the matter, I opened the front page of one of today's papers and found that a green group have been successful in the courts and possibly halted the production of coal from the Springvale mine. I don't even know where the Springvale mine is; I have never been there. But I do know it employs 600 people. I do know that the Mount Piper power station is one of newer coal-fired power stations—and I know because I read the paper, and correct me if I'm wrong—and that it supplies energy to 15 per cent of New South Wales, to one million people. I do know the Springvale mine is their only supplier of coal. I do know it is a ridiculous situation that this judge has sided with the green group to possibly put them all out of the business. I know this isn't federal, but it's tied in with the same debate, and the lack of action in the federal scene is compounding it and making it worse.

I see that the manager is trying to get something from the New South Wales government. Hopefully, there is some legislation that can override the stupidity that's gone through the court with this announcement about shutting down the coal supply. But this is the best that the New South Wales energy minister can say—and I am going to quote; I don't read speeches too often but I want to get it right:

NSW Energy Minister Don Harwin would not say what action was available to the government in the event of an adverse decision and said the government was waiting the outcome of the court hearings.

God almighty, how wishy-washy is that!

But the true problem is that that side of parliament has an internal intifada between former Prime Minister Mr Abbott and the now Prime Minister, Mr Turnbull. I heard a whisper that this week is the two-year anniversary of the election of Mr Turnbull since rolling Mr Abbott. I didn't hear the corks popping and didn't see the streamers flying out of the building. I can understand why. I would be a bit embarrassed. We were just as embarrassed when we were in government. The only good thing about our situation is they both left parliament and now we can get on business. You guys have to start standing up. For crying out loud, you know you need some leadership. You are the government. We can't be threatened with blackouts in the lucky country. You use this nonsense argument against South Australia: that it's South Australia's problem. We'll see how smart everyone is when we get to summer and, all of a sudden, the air-conditioners and freezers can't come on and all the food is thrown out.

In this day and age, are we really serious that we're proud of us as a nation when we can't even get any leadership to get our energy sources correct? God Almighty! I remember looking at a map on the wall of Shell when I was a removalist back in the seventies. I said to the person at Shell, 'What are all the coloured dots around the country?' I was only about 17. He said, 'They're all our uncapped wells. We are rich with oil and rich with fuel.' And here we are in the ridiculous situation we find ourselves in. We don't even know what the hell the— (Time expired)

Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

First of all, I would like to commend Senator Sterle for his comments on the importance of coal as an energy mix here in Australia and the importance of it to our state of Western Australia and also to the many thousands of workers in that industry. But I would now like to take note of the answers to questions on industrial relations by the Minister for Employment. Listening to Senator Cameron, I just could not help but think it was, again, the height of hypocrisy from Senator Cameron. The unions he is still defending talk about the big end of town, but they are now the big end of town. They get hundreds of millions of dollars from industry super funds, and I'm almost certain that most people who contribute to industry funds do not realise how much of their money goes through to unions. In fact, union membership is declining so much. I understand there is only 10 per cent membership in private companies. So the unions really don't need their members anymore for their financial future, because they're getting far more money annually from super funds. There is a compounding tragedy. We hear how they're using the money. I'm certain that neither union members nor super fund contributors to industry funds realise where some of the funds are being used—to actually pay the fines, I suspect, of those who breach the law and are repeatedly fined for misconduct and unlawful behaviour. I am certain that most, if not all, union members and super fund contributors would be aghast at that.

Let's look at the latest performance. What we heard today is that the CFMEU—a serial offender—has been handed unprecedented penalties for its concerted campaign of industrial lawlessness at Barangaroo. The CFMEU national branch, the New South Wales branch and multiple union CFMEU officials have been ordered by the courts to pay $2.4 million in fines. I ask Australian union members of the CFMEU, in particular, and any of the contributing super funds: who is actually paying these fines? I think we all know what the answer to that is. The Minister for Employment, Senator Michaelia Cash, said that the lawless industrial strikes involved over a thousand workers and again demonstrates the utter disregard that the CFMEU, in particular, has for the law.

It was very interesting to read Justice Flick's judgement today because it highlights the hypocrisy of those opposite and particularly those who keep defending and supporting the actions of the CFMEU. This is what Justice Flick found today. He said:

It is difficult, if not impossible, to envisage any worse conduct than that pursued by the CFMEU ...

He went on to say:

The CFMEU assumes a prominent role in the industrial affairs of this country and has consistently exhibited a contempt for compliance with the law.

Again, that is at the expense of their members. The CFMEU, he went on to say:

… has long demonstrated by its conduct that it pays but little regard to compliance with the law and indeed has repeatedly sought to place itself above the law.

No wonder, when they have access to their members' fees to pay their fines and also, quite possibly, the money from those who contribute to industry super funds. He went on to say:

It is difficult to perceive how such conduct can be regarded as in the best interests of the bulk of its members and the workers it supposedly represents.

That's not us on this side of the chamber saying that; it is Justice Flick. He also said:

Such conduct may promote the CFMEU as a "militant" union. But the constraints imposed by the law apply to all – including the CFMEU—

who clearly have not got the message yet.

In addition to issuing unprecedented penalties, Justice Flick also referred union officials Brian Parker and Luke Collier—who we've heard of many times in this chamber, and who have been defended by Senator Cameron over and over again—to the DPP for possible criminal prosecution for allegedly giving false testimony during the proceedings. What a surprise—a CFMEU member giving false testimony during proceedings! There's a shocker! Justice Flick also ordered the CFMEU to pay for prominent advertising in Sydney's major newspapers to ensure that the public and, importantly, CFMEU members are made aware of the illegal actions, and the financial consequences for them. (Time expired)

Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of answers to questions as outlined earlier. Before I disagree with effectively everything that Senator Reynolds just said, I want to acknowledge the fantastic event that she put together for the launching of the Parliamentary Friends of Australian Books and Writers group last night. It was an excellent event, and she should be congratulated for that initiative. But I digress.

I want to start by talking about the ridiculousness of the answers, and the situation that has now been outlined as it relates to the questions that were asked to Senator Brandis regarding electricity. To come to this chamber and attempt to brag about a cup of tea shows how pathetically weak, how pathetically ridiculous, this government's situation has become as it relates to skyrocketing energy prices. Here are the facts. For those of us living in Sydney, since this government was elected power prices have increased by $1,000. This government did nothing when we saw, down in Victoria, the closure of Hazelwood. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity—it was a completely tragic set of circumstances, but, because of the work we do in the Senate committee process, I had the opportunity—to visit Morwell, talk to some of the workers who were directly affected and to hear from them what had gone on. The government did nothing. The government didn't raise a finger, didn't raise a concern, just washed their hands clean of it.

Now what we're seeing is a power crisis engulfing this country and the government again doing all they do when they end up falling into these desperate and pathetic situations, and that is blame Labor, blame someone else, blame the Greens, blame ideology, blame this, blame that. Here is the reality. There is only one group here who are allowing ideology to drive them, and that is the Liberal-National parties. They're allowing that to happen because of their inability to sort out their own internal ideological mess as it relates to this issue. The only strategy they have available to them is to try to attack others, because they themselves can't even work out where they stand on these issues. I actually give credit to Senator Malcolm Roberts, who at least has been incredibly consistent in his view—a view that I don't agree with. But the government itself is all over the shop. When you talk to people from industry, when you talk to people who actually have to relate to this, they say the biggest problem they have now is a lack of certainty. The biggest problem for businesses making investment decisions is a lack of certainty, and this government has done nothing but feed that level of uncertainty. What we've seen in the past week and a half is an obscenely ridiculous attack on the CEO of AGL. How does that help? How is that going to help? How is that the objective? When we have an Attorney-General representing the Prime Minister who cannot answer basic questions about what's happening with power prices 24 hours after they were initially asked, we have to ask ourselves: How serious is this government when it comes to addressing these concerns? How serious is this government when it comes to addressing these problems? The reality is that it's not serious at all. No, what we have are cups of coffee. What we have are letters being mailed out to people. That is not providing any sense of certainty or any sense of actual change. All we have are these ridiculously small announceables so the government can pretend, can put on some kind of facade, that it's actually doing something about this issue, when the reality is that time and time again it's failed.

Question agreed to.