Ian Causley (Page, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Page did indicate he was going to withdraw.

The member for Brisbane is trying to waste time, because he knows that what I am saying is right. He knows what I am saying is right, because I have been there. Swimming pools suddenly appear upon the scene—the union bosses get swimming pools! That is what it is about. I am not opposed to unions; I have made this clear in this parliament. I am not opposed to unions. Unions should be voluntarily joined, and there should be secret ballots in the workplace. If you had that, you would have decent unions. That is the only way to operate unions. But these people opposite, who have been the beneficiaries of this, are certainly not in favour of that.

We have one of the thugs in my electorate—David Lyons. Mr Lyons turned up at a workplace on a Monday morning and took all the people out. When the boss asked, ‘What’s this about?’ he said, ‘I had a bad weekend.’ That was the only reason he could give the boss for taking the workforce out: ‘I had a bad weekend.’ That is what this is about. It is about the fact that we are going to get this right across Australia. We are going to have unfettered unions. We are going to have unions walking into the workplace on all sorts of excuses. We have it in New South Wales. It is like the Treasurer says: ‘Don’t look at what they say; have a look at what they do.’ Have a look at New South Wales, because there is legislation in New South Wales that, under the guise of occupational health and safety, the unions can just walk in and they can enforce all sorts of constraints upon the boss. Not only that, they can then do inspections. And guess what? They say, ‘Oh, look, there is a charge for that. You’ll have to pay, because we are here to inspect.’ That is the type of thing you get.

We even have legislation in New South Wales which says that if the unions take someone to court and get a settlement, they get part of the settlement. That is the legislation. They get part of the settlement. That is the type of government you get from the unions, and if you get it wall-to-wall across Australia, heaven help Australia. The member for Richmond, who was in here a while ago, is advocating that small businesses in Richmond will have to be unionised. People will be forced into unions and will have to pay up to $500 a year in union fees. And then, would you believe, those businesses go broke, don’t they? (Time expired)

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