James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Government Waste Reduction) Share this | Hansard source

Indeed, we're here debating the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment (Withdrawal from Amalgamation) Bill 2024, a bill which the government has surprisingly brought forward into the parliament to allow for the demerger of unions, a position which they've bitterly opposed—or, should I say, have been told to oppose by their masters, the union movement, who fund them, get them elected and require significant repayments in return.

We see, as these other industrial relations reforms have been brought before the parliament, it's been an unequivocal requirement for the Labor Party to return to their paymasters what was required for those donations to their campaigns. The union movement is proud of this. They come into the galleries to witness the Labor Party pass legislation that they are told to by the union movement. They celebrate it, and they remind themselves that those donations they give to the Labor Party are very good investments because they can certainly achieve whatever they want from this government in return.

We have a unique situation where this government has been shamed into pursuing this legislation, which is something that is against their platform and certainly against the better judgement of their paymasters, in the parliament, but the behaviour of Mr Setka has become—I won't say 'so extreme', because it's always been this extreme—so publicly revolting and grotesque that it is absolutely untenable for them to resist taking action. What has Mr Setka done? All he's done is publicly discuss what has been the modus operandi of the CFMEU and their predecessor organisations for decades and decades. Previous Labor leaders stood up to them much more effectively, particularly Bob Hawke. Of course, when the old brickies union used to behave like this, Bob Hawke kicked them out of affiliation with the Labor Party. The punishment here is pretty timid, but I suppose the strategists in the government believe that this might at least help them survive some press conferences when they get queried and questioned about the disgusting, despicable and deplorable behaviour of particularly John Setka, but there are many more in the CFMEU.

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