Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

If the honourable member's question is, 'When did I become aware a subpoena had been issued today?' then it was this morning. I heard about it this morning. The fact is this is the third time a subpoena has been issued. I'll just refer the honourable member to the court order setting aside one of the previous subpoenas. The court said:

Whilst the Minister may have an interest in the outcome of this proceeding, she is not a party to it and ought not be burdened with making substantial enquiries in the search for documents unless and until it is apparent that the documents sought may be of assistance to the AWU’s case.

The minister has said her lawyers will apply to set aside this subpoena, as they have the previous ones, and the court will make a decision. But the honourable member should recognise that the issue in the proceedings does not relate to Senator Cash. The issue here is about an attempt to stop the Registered Organisations Commission from finding out whether $100,000 of AWU members' money was lawfully paid or not. That is a legitimate inquiry. Do honourable members opposite seriously believe—does the member for Batman, a distinguished trade unionist herself, seriously believe—that the payment of union members' money to an activist group should be done with authority, or not? That is the question. She may think that paying tax is a privilege, but I don't think that union members believe that paying their dues is a privilege. They believe it's paid to the union to represent them, right? And handing it out to GetUp! without authority? Surely that should affront the honour and decency of every trade unionist opposite, but they all seem to be determined to do everything they can to stop the Registered Organisations Commission finding out whether $100,000 of AWU members' hard-earned cash was paid to GetUp! without authority. Surely the truth should out, and the Leader of the Opposition and the union should explain whether it was paid with authority or not and stop trying to obstruct this investigation.

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