Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Kennedy for his question. This is what the leader of the trade union movement said:

I believe in the rule of law when the law is fair and the law is right, but when it's unjust I don't think there's a problem with breaking it.

We should respect the rule of law. We should always respect the rule of law. We shouldn't encourage people to break the law. It shouldn't be optional for trade union leaders and militant union thugs who might want to come onto sites. It's not okay for members to encourage those to be wilfully not obeying the law by going on and preventing people from accessing their place of work, which those opposite know all about.

There's no wonder why those opposite did not want me to read out that quote. There's no wonder why they didn't, because it betrays their hypocrisy. It betrays their hypocrisy that it's alright for union thugs to come and try to knock this building down. It's alright for that. They'll support them then. They'll support them when they're out working away with John Setka and outlawed motorcycle gangs, and it's okay when they commit these crimes. They'll let them stay in this country, which is what happened under the Labor Party. But when we're in government and we want to send those thugs out of this country and we want to introduce laws that strengthen our protections to enable us to kick those thugs out of this country, guess who votes against us? The Labor Party. That's not the sort of weakness this country needs. The Leader of the Opposition was part of a Labor Party which let outlawed motorcycle gang thugs and the union leaders who work with them to get away scot-free. That's not how you run a country if you're a strong leader. This Leader of the Opposition is a weak reed. He is a weak reed. He is not someone—

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