Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

In terms of the first part of his question, I think that most members in this House would agree that one of the primary responsibilities of any government is to look after workers' safety, to look after their conditions and to look after their pay. That is why this government has taken the necessary actions through building up the economy, through the creation of jobs and through putting in place the architecture to build the pay and conditions of workers every day. That is what the Treasurer does and that is what Senator Cash does in the Senate as the Minister for Employment. I can reassure the member for Kennedy that the Prime Minister and his government are absolutely committed to taking care of the conditions and the safety of workers in their workplaces.

In terms of the second part of the member for Kennedy's question, which was the defence of the CFMEU, on that question I think I have to part company with him, because my view and the view of the government is not that the CFMEU is the bulwark of our protections in terms of the workplace. In fact, the Heydon royal commission made it absolutely clear that the CFMEU is one of the major problems in the construction sector. The Heydon royal commission said that they had a low regard for both civil and criminal laws in the workplace and that they did not believe the rule of law applied to them. Justice Heydon recommended the establishment of an independent authority in order to restore the rule of law to the workplace. That is why we introduced and passed the Australian Building and Construction Commission legislation, that is why we introduced and passed the Registered Organisations Commission legislation and that is why we are introducing and will soon pass through the House of Representatives the Fair Work Amendment (Corrupting Benefits) Bill 2017—because this legislation, working with the ABCC and the ROC, will ensure that workers are placed first and foremost, not dodgy union leaders and not business people, for that matter, who fall for being shook down by unions like the CFMEU. We certainly do support the member for Kennedy's intentions in support of workers and their safety, but we certainly do not agree with him that the answer to that is the CFMEU.

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