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

But, you know, there is one person other than members opposite who thinks that these things are just paperwork, and that is the great John Setka himself. When all of this offending was put to John Setka, he had precisely the same response as Labor members opposite.

A government member: What did he say?

He said: 'They are, some of them, just civil breaches. That's all they are, just breaches.' Paperwork! Is that like the paperwork that Cesar Melhem forgot to put in? Is that the sort of paperwork we're talking about? Members opposite no doubt will be familiar with what was found to have been inflating the membership numbers of the Victorian branch of the Australian Workers Union—on a piece of paper, apparently. But don't worry. That was just paperwork! And what happened? The union was penalised $20,000 for that paperwork breach, that tiny little matter of overinflating their membership numbers. What about the Federal Court penalising the Transport Workers Union nearly $160,000 for breaking the law requiring organisations to keep a proper register of their members? It was a case of repeated and serious breaches over 12 years. What about the apprentice who gets bullied and lied to and so intimidated he can't turn up to work because he's got the temerity to not want to join a union? What about the intimidation of a female police officer on a site by the CFMEU? That's paperwork. What about kicking off non-union apprenticeships in Victoria and New South Wales? That's paperwork! This bill is attuned to dealing with the most serious repeated offending of workplace law, what the courts have said is deplorable, abusive, threatening, appalling, disgraceful and recidivist—those are the words of the court.

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