Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this bill, the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment (Administration) Bill 2024 bill, which aims to address the widespread corruption and criminality of the CFMEU. I do so confronted by the deep irony that the Australian Labor Party, which has been joined at the hip with the CFMEU, is trying to pass itself off as the saviour of Australian tradies on building sites. So let's just, first, call that out. We have Senator Murray Watt and his mate the ambitious member for Watson in this place trying to play the 'We are cleaning up the CFMEU' card. Some of the contributions we've seen in this place and in the media are frankly farcical. With faux concern and confected anger, Labor members have piled in here and beaten their chests, talking tough about the CFMEU. To those members I say: whatever helps you sleep at night. If you need to talk tough about the CFMEU to make you feel okay, sure, go right ahead.

But, for those of us on this side of the House that have been calling out the CFMEU for years and years, we know it is all a facade and we know, if it hadn't been caught on tape and exposed by Nick McKenzie, we wouldn't be where we are today. In fact, as these tough Labor members come in here and tee off at the CFMEU, to me, it's like watching a Siamese twin punch its other head, because the Australian Labor Party and the CFMEU are joined right at the hip and always have been. It's a symbiotic relationship. That might be a long word that our Prime Minister might not understand, but what it means is that the ALP and the CFMEU rely on each other to survive. Millions and millions of dollars in donations are proof of that. Anyone who has stood at a polling booth in a marginal seat knows that the CFMEU makes their presence known at elections too. So, yes, the ALP is the slightly better-looking side of the coin, but on the other side of that coin is the corrupt and criminal CFMEU.

While Labor are focused on hitting themselves and focused on their confected collective Deidre Chambers act, I want to call out the human carnage that the CFMEU have wrought on Australians across the country. As a bit of a teaser to keep viewers on the hook, I will point out one Labor member who sits in this very chamber who not only turned a blind eye to accusations of domestic violence against John Setka but actively supported him to try to rehabilitate his image. We have text messages which show that Labor members and their allies in the Labor ranks have been aiding and abetting the CFMEU for years.

We know without doubt that the CFMEU is driving up the cost of construction and have perpetrated violence and corruption across this country. Others will rightly talk about the CFMEU's role in driving up housing costs and the impact that has on the Australian dream and on families across this nation, but I want to focus on the role the CFMEU has played in perpetuating gender based violence on our building sites and making the work place unsafe for apprentices and trainees.

This is the dark irony. The Labor speakers who will talk on this bill will tell you the construction union just needs to be let back on site so they can do their job and protect people. The lived experience is the complete opposite. The CFMEU has taken a real toll on women—women who are interested in entering the construction workforce and women, more broadly, across Australia. The CFMEU has all too often damaged dreams of a career in construction and killed aspirations with their violence and thuggery.

We mustn't forget John Setka, who went after Rosie Batty, whose 11-year-old son was murdered by his father in 2014. Rosie Batty was made Australian of the Year in 2015, recognising her steadfast advocacy in this space, which began when she spoke publicly, addressing the media the morning after Luke's murder, about her experience of domestic violence. Rosie Batty is a national hero, and John Setka and his CFMEU mates thought going after her was the right approach. John Setka did not like that Rosie Batty was calling out bad behaviour, because bad behaviour was John Setka's MO. What does that tell you about the way the CFMEU thinks about domestic violence?

They have failed apprentices too. We mustn't forget Tammie Palmer, who said that her 18-year-old son, Ben, was bullied by the CFMEU on his worksite and that those actions led to his death. What was his crime? It was wearing the wrong shirt. His shirt had on it a logo of a small Indigenous construction company that had an AWU agreement, not a CFMEU agreement. So the CFMEU locked him in a shed for four hours. He later died at home following an overdose that Tammie, his mum, has attributed to the stress and torment he faced.

I thought the CFMEU was there to protect young people like Ben. How do you explain that, Labor members? We mustn't forget that John Setka pleaded guilty to harassing his ex-wife with barrages of text messages and calls, with threatening expletives I do not wish to hear ever directed at a woman. How did the Labor Party respond to such vitriol—the Labor Party that purports to support women, that claims they will drive a better deal for women and that wants to see more women supported into work and supported to remain in work?

Behind the scenes, the Labor Party supported the CFMEU, and they supported John Setka. We have text messages that were published in the Australian Financial Review that prove that, instead of admonishing the CFMEU and John Setka, Labor women helped him. The former head of Labor women's forum EMILY's List, Tanja Kovac, helped craft Setka's public messaging strategy to avoid pressure for his resignation. The member for Bendigo, a woman who sits in this very chamber, who may even now speak on this legislation, checked in on John Setka after a so-called tough interview, commending him for his efforts. This is proof that even those opposite can't be trusted on this issue. They talk tough on the CFMEU in public, but in private they are there helping the CFMEU behind the scenes. The Labor Party are speaking out of both sides of their mouths. The behaviour of the CFMEU and the actions of John Setka are inappropriate and unacceptable.

We see all of this, and then we have Labor come into this place and issue demands. Get real. We did the work to make this bill passable. Labor wanted a blank cheque to let the CFMEU off the hook. Shadow Attorney-General Michaelia Cash has sorted Senator Watt out on this one. The criminal activity, bullying, thuggery and intimidation within the CFMEU must stop, and we must crack down on this rogue union. We were not going to let this be a light-touch moment, because we know the need to clean up the construction industry. The government rushed this legislation into the parliament without adequate consultation and were dragged kicking and screaming to make sensible changes suggested by the coalition.

We secured a key amendment: that the administration period will last for a minimum of three years. That will ensure that the CFMEU faces scrutiny today and tomorrow, over coming months and after the election. When we win government at that election, we will be going through all the work that is being done very closely—very closely indeed. We secured enhanced transparency by requiring the administrator to report to parliament every six months. Labor wanted to keep the important work being done out of the public spotlight because they have been on the take from the CFMEU for years and years. We have forced them to have basic accountability to this parliament. This bill gives the ability to ban rogue CFMEU officials for life and changes the retrospective civil penalties avoidance clause to before John Setka resigned from the union. Frankly, we know exactly who needs to be banned.

The coalition is committed to restoring the Australian Building and Construction Commission and enhancing the integrity measures and combatting criminality on our nation's building sites. Labor has been forced to the table on this matter, and they hate it. Labor has comprehensively failed to confront the CFMEU, and they have comprehensively failed our construction industry. We have forced them to deal with the thugs, but there are other failures too.

Our construction industry is being hammered by Labor's bad decisions on the economy and on skills and training. Unfortunately, since Labor took office, Australia has seen 85,000 fewer apprentices and trainees, a loss of one in five. The number of female apprentices and trainees in training has fallen by 25 per cent, and female commencements have fallen by 40 per cent. Analysis of the National Centre for Vocational Education Research conducted by Build Skills Australia found that new starts or commencements for construction apprentices have dropped from record highs in 2022 under the coalition to new lows in 2023 under Labor, a 22 per cent drop or a loss of one in five construction trades apprentices. This means that there are fewer Australians starting a construction trade under Labor. The analysis has also found that the number of construction apprentices finishing their qualification has dropped 15 per cent. That's 3,700 less construction apprentices finishing their apprenticeships.

This means that there are fewer Australians becoming qualified construction tradies under Labor. Businesses that were able to keep apprentices on through a once-in-a-century pandemic are shedding them under the economic crisis created under this Labor government. Under Anthony Albanese, Australia is building fewer homes, skills shortages have worsened, and we have lost one in five apprentices and trainees across the country. This is all adding to increasing inflation and prices. The bottom line here is that we need more apprentices and trainees, not less. Labor promised that they would skill more Australians, but their programs are not delivering. The Australian Labor Party are failing Aussie skills.

Today is an important day in our national story. It is the day that the Australian Labor Party has been forced to deal with a monster of its own making. We're here today because weak Labor leader after weak Labor leader failed to stand up to the thugs and instead let them trade in corruption and coercion. We're here today because, when CFMEU thugs were called out for their bad behaviour, Labor MPs and their allies helped union officials duck scrutiny. We're here today because the Australian Labor Party made a Faustian pact with some of the darkest elements in our nation, all in the name of funds for political campaigns and seats in this chamber. Well, I know what happened to Dr Faustus, and it's not a Disney ending.

To those opposite: you might have won the last election because of the CFMEU, but you aren't running the show now. Only the coalition has what it takes to stand up to the CFMEU. Your name might be on this bill, but we did the work. I command the bill to the House.

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