Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Those opposite can make fun of this. They can make a joke of this, but we actually think this is very, very serious. This continual lawlessness, which is being perpetrated by the CFMMEU on building sites right across the country, impacts not only on big businesses but also on mum-and-dad businesses. It is costing hundreds of thousands of dollars a week every time the union black-bans a site or a small business. It's an absolute disgrace. Minister, individuals like this cannot be allowed to continue to terrorise and abuse ordinary working Australians. Would the minister therefore please outline for the House what the government is doing to ensure that individual union officials are held to account for their unlawful actions? In the case of the CFMMEU, however, it is far from a few bad apples like Mr Upton who are the problem. The CFMMEU has proved time and time again that it is fundamentally, systematically, even gleefully supported by its parliamentary wing—lawlessness at an institutional level. Justice Geoffrey Flick said of it:

It is difficult, if not impossible, to envisage any worse conduct than that pursued by the CFMEU.

Justice Rangiah stated that its conduct was 'deliberate, flagrant and systematic', while Justice Vasta suggested:

It is no understatement to describe the CFMEU as the most recidivist corporate offender in Australian history.

See this speech in context