Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I appreciate the support that he is giving to the coalition government for our commitment to ensuring that fair workplaces exist in this country and that there is a union movement where officials put the interests of the workers ahead of their self-interest. That is why the coalition have reforms to establish a registered organisation commission and why we are seeking to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission—to protect workers and honest union members—and it is why we established a royal commission to ensure that dodgy union bosses, like Craig Thomson and Michael Williamson and Bruce Wilson are not allowed to keep siphoning off the money of the honest union members whom they were meant to represent. By opposing our reforms, the Labor Party is representing the interests of dodgy union bosses rather than the union members those bosses are meant to represent.

The outrage of the Labor Party front benchers, as they seek to smear the name of a former High Court judge, shows how desperate they are to protect themselves—not just the union bosses—and their union masters in an outrageous attempt to throw mud at a royal commissioner. You have to ask yourself: what does the Labor Party have to hide? It has already been reported that a former AWU secretary—aka the Leader of the Opposition—traded away the penalty rates of low-paid workers. It has spent reported that the AWU received hundreds of thousands of dollars in unexplained payments and that the Leader of the Opposition failed to disclose over $40,000 donated to his political campaign by a company with which his union was dealing until just before he was called before the royal commission. We know that criminal charges have been recommended against at least three of the most senior officials of the militant construction union, the CFMEU, no less than four officials have been arrested as the result of matters before the royal commission and a series of unions have been implicated in secret slush fund scandals that have finally come to light.

So why is the Labor Party so eager to hide this evidence? Here are three reasons. One, union masters have provided Labor members with $46 million since 2007. They would not be here without them. Two, the Leader of the Opposition is facing very serious questions about his time as a union leader. Three, Labor members are being directed by their union masters by standing against reforms that would clean up the activities of dishonest union bosses, and these people will stand to lose millions if the royal commission goes ahead. (Time expired)

Mr Sukkar interjecting—

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