Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party, Minister for Small and Family Business, the Workplace and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

There's 10 minutes of my life I'll never get back. It's just more of the same. Where is one policy that those opposite have that will create one job? Where it is? It's non-existent. It was a wholehearted 10 minutes defending the indefensible, as per usual—their union puppet masters—and bagging and creating class envy, which is the only trick of this one-trick pony opposition.

I would like to make a couple of points with respect to the shadow minister's comments regarding, firstly, appointments on the Fair Work Commission. I noted with interest last week that apparently, according to him, we've stacked the joint. I would draw to his attention that currently, among those sitting on the Fair Work Commission, it is 51 per cent put there by Labor versus 49 per cent from us. We are, of course, the 49 per cent.

I will also say that, as the Prime Minister said in question time, there's a very simple way for the ROC, the Registered Organisations Commission: the action would never have been taken if the union had provided the documentation on the authorisation for the $100,000 of—and here's the key—union members' money. It's not the union delegates' money, it's not union bosses' money, it's not the Labor Party's money and it's definitely not the Leader of the Opposition's money; it is union members' money. Why is it that those opposite fight so hard against transparency—and here's the other misnomer—of not just unions but any registered organisation, yet, at the same time, at the back end of the banking royal commission—you watch them—they'll be calling for company directors to be hanged, drawn and quartered? That behaviour, if found to be true, should absolutely be penalised, and I note that the Minister for Revenue and Financial Services has already made indications that there'll be a considerable stiffening of penalties on the corporate side of the fence, as there should be. But there should be responsibility on anyone that looks after anyone else's money. There should be transparency for anyone that looks after anyone—

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