Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Justice, Customs and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

I am happy to withdraw, Mr Deputy Speaker. The point is, if the member for Dobell had nothing to hide in these matters he would walk into this chamber today and he would explain himself. He has been accused of very serious things. There is no better place in Australia to be able to explain yourself than as a member of the House of Representatives. You do not get a better bully pulpit than this to come in and explain your actions. By his refusal to do so I think the Australian people are entitled to draw their own conclusions about what that means.

We do have bodies that are investigating these matters: the Victorian Police and the New South Wales Police. We rightly support their independence to pursue these allegations. What does concern me though is in relation to Fair Work Australia, a body that was tasked with investigating these claims back in 2009. We are now in 2012. I think the Australian people are entitled to ask: why is it taking so long for Fair Work Australia to reach conclusions about these matters? Extraordinarily, Fair Work Australia appearing before this parliament has said that they are at a loss to explain why it has taken so long as well. Until we get that explanation, until Fair Work Australia is able to explain to the Australian people why it is taking well over three years—in fact, this investigation is now into its fourth year—to investigate these claims, then we are entitled to ask what the genesis of this institutional go-slow has been.

Why is it that Fair Work Australia cannot conclude this investigation when I think most of the Australian people would understand that it is a pretty open-and-shut case of malfeasance? If it were not then, as I said, the people who have been accused would be able to defend themselves—and they have been completely unable to do that.

What we do know is that the Fair Work Australia investigation has been ongoing since 2009. It was actually an investigation that was started by the industrial registrar in January 2009. They have repeatedly said at Fair Work Australia that this investigation was going to be concluded, yet, we find that it still remains ongoing. These are very legitimate questions raised in this motion about why it has taken Fair Work Australia so long, and I would urge them to explain to the Australian people why that is. (Time expired)

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