Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to follow the member for Jagajaga. I hope to hear some positive news back from her with her contact with the new Western Australian government regarding redress for forgotten Australians. I look forward to that.

I want to bring to the attention of the House a newspaper article that was in the West Australian last week. I am sure the member for Perth will agree that that is something I do not often do—bring the attention of the House to a newspaper article in the West Australian. The article reports that the state WA member of the Cannington and industrial relations minister, Labor's Bill Johnston, shared a microphone in Perth with unionists who declared their support for breaking the law.

The article went on to say that the member told the rally that it was 'ridiculous' to suggest Labor should be embarrassed about its ties to the union movement. Well, I beg to differ. The member's comments and attendance at the rally came after ACTU Secretary Sally McManus made the claim that it was acceptable for unions to break laws that they disagreed with, which she justified by saying the CFMEU broke workplace laws when responding to workplace fatalities.

The Australian published data last week that showed of the 47 matters before the courts involving alleged unlawful industrial action and the right of entry breaches by CFMEU officials, none of them were in direct response to a workplace fatality. To use workplace deaths, which affect so many people, to justify unlawful behaviour is just wrong. I am sure most Western Australians who are law abiding citizens would agree. Despite what the member for Cannington thinks, Labor should be embarrassed about this association. All of WA's law-abiding citizens should reject them and their platform.

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