Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

Unfortunately, it goes to the sensitivity of the new member for Newcastle that he would be seeking to interrupt a very serious answer about a very serious issue. There are good people on the Labor side from the union bosses, from the union party, who do recognise that stealing from workers is the worst crime of all. We have seen it with the Health Services Union, the Transport Workers Union, the CFMEU and the National Union of Workers. All of their slush funds have been under a cloud—IR21, Industry 2020, Building Industry 2000.

All of these organisations' slush funds, examples of stealing from the workers that the union bosses are meant to represent, would be dealt with by the Registered Organisations Commission. The Registered Organisations Commission would stand up for workers. What this proves to me is that, yet again, it is the Liberal and National Parties that are the friends of the workers. It is the Liberal and National Parties that seek to protect the workers against rapacious union bosses who steal their money and use it to live high on the hog, and I am proud to be part of a party that genuinely stands up for workers—that does not just use them to win preselection and to get elected.

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