Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. As the member is aware, the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment (Ensuring Integrity) Bill 2019 is designed to see that our courts have the ability to ensure lawful behaviour on Australian worksites. It is a bill that will apply equally to employer and employee organisations, and there are a number of reasons why this bill is critical and why maintaining lawful conduct on workplaces is critical. Unlawful conduct adds to the costs of infrastructure borne by the Australian taxpayer. One of the very important reasons that unlawful behaviour on worksites must be stopped is that it puts the safety of workers at risk.

We know that the CFMMEU has racked up $16 million in court fines for unlawful behaviour for over 2,000 breaches. What is less well known is that many of those breaches themselves relate to violations of occupational health and safety standards. Last year the full Federal Court found that a CFMMEU official had acted in an improper manner to a Victorian government occupational health and safety officer. The grotesque behaviour of the CFMMEU to that official is behaviour directed not at another worker or an employer but at a safety official.

When we look at Queensland, there are proceedings that were commenced in December last year against a CFMMEU organiser for his behaviour towards a Queensland government occupational health and safety inspector. The construction site was Cairns Performing Arts Centre. The safety inspector was in the course of inspecting exit signage. He was confronted by the CFMMEU official, who within centimetres of the face of the safety officer said, 'You are an effing dog'—not once, not twice but three times. And the upshot of all this—

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