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

I move:

That the amendments be agreed to.

In doing so, I don't want to delay the House for long. The significance of this legislation is that the Senate has returned the Fair Work Amendment (Corrupting Benefits) Bill 2017 to the House, having agreed to it and having amended it in a way that the government is happy to support.

Once again, Labor finds itself on the wrong side of industrial relations reform and on the wrong side of creating jobs. Whether it was the Australian Building and Construction Commission, the Registered Organisations Commission, the reforms to the Building Code, standing up for the Victorian Country Fire Authority volunteers or standing up for the owner-operator driver truck drivers, this side of the House has been on the right side of industrial relations reform and on the right side of the workers. Once again, Labor finds itself on the side of the CFMEU—the side of people who give corrupting benefits to trade union officials.

This legislation makes it illegal for businesses to pay corrupting benefits to union officials and makes it a criminal offence for union officials to take those corrupting benefits. Labor voted against that in the Senate and in the House of Representatives. Labor clearly indicated to the Australian public they're on the side of businesses that pay corrupting benefits to union officials. They should have supported this legislation in the same way they should have supported the raft of industrial relations reform that this government has supported, whether it was the previous administration or the Turnbull government. As a consequence, I recommend the amendments to the House.

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