Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

While I did not have a chance to hear all of the contribution from the previous speakers, I am sure it would have been considered. Nevertheless, I rise to oppose the member for Wright's motion. Whilst I have a lot of time for the member for Wright—I am sure I will see him down at the Senate rugby field tomorrow morning, where we might be on the same side or on opposing sides—nevertheless I do oppose his motion. I respect his intentions and respect that commitment of everybody in the House to accountability. However, I do reassure the member for Wright that in the last few months the Gillard Labor government has taken an unprecedented number of actions to improve the regulation of trade unions and employer organisations as well—something that I look forward to reading the transcript of his speech to see that he has mentioned.

Given the findings by Fair Work Australia in its reports regarding the HSU national office and the HSU No. 1 branch, the federal government has repeatedly stated on the public record that the conduct outlined in Fair Work Australia's reports is not acceptable at all. We believe, and I believe in my discussions with the union movement, that the problems with the HSU are not representative of the broader trade union movement at all. We recognise and understand that unions and employer associations play a critical role in facilitating the operation of the workplace relations system. I say that from my experience in the union movement both when I was a teacher—when I worked unpaid as a teacher as part of enterprise bargaining negotiations—and then as a member of the Queensland Independent Education Union as a union organiser, when I sat down and worked on behalf of my members.

I should say that I do not know the HSU very well. We do not have an HSU in Queensland. United Voice, the AWU and a few others would basically cover that calling that the HSU covers. But I can say that I do know the three unions that I am a member of: the Independent Education Union, which looks after private schools' union members; United Voice; and the ASU's clerical and administrative branch. I have had a lot to do with them, particularly the Independent Education Union, whose annual reports I see every year. A respectable auditor goes through their accounts with a fine toothcomb. Having had a union credit card, I can say that I seemed to spend every month laboriously going through to justify anything and everything that I put on that union credit card—which is the right thing and the appropriate thing to do. Obviously things did go a little bit astray in the HSU No. 1 branch, where they were able to put such things on the union credit card.

I take my role as a Labor representative very seriously, as I am sure the member for Wright will acknowledge, but I also took my role as a union representative very seriously and would not ever spend a union member's dollar unless it was in pursuit of the best interests of that union member. I took that role very, very seriously indeed, and most of the trade union members I have ever met are similarly inclined. They are passionate people trying to do the right thing by working members of Australia.

Obviously, we have had a long and free independent union movement. If we trace our days back to Barcaldine, the shearers' strike and the formation of the Labor Party out of the union movement, we can see that the union movement and the Labor Party have always had that strong connection. In fact, I have always seen the Labor Party as the political arm of the trade union movement. Members of trade unions, like members of employee organisations or other organisations must be respected and their interests must be respected. Obviously, they have every right to expect that their money is used only for the benefit of members. Financial transparency is a good thing. I have nothing to hide, nothing at all, and no problems with disclosure by registered organisations to their members. The bills introduced by the Gillard government will improve the way that investigations into breaches of registered organisations provisions are conducted by the general manager of Fair Work Australia. We have overseen the tripling of civil penalties where people have contravened the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009, and I look forward to that further supervision continuing.

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