Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment (Administration) Bill 2024 with—I don't know how I feel. I feel moments of irony. I also feel some degree of satisfaction, because I've come in here over the eight years that I've been the federal member and spoken about this issue on 65 occasions. On 65 occasions in eight years I have spoken about the illegality, the criminality, the bullying and the harassment by some CFMEU officials and about how they conduct themselves in the construction industry throughout this country. And on every occasion that I have spoken about this I've been met with derision and scorn by members of the Labor Party. So, when Channel 9 produced its documentary identifying the illegality of the CFMEU, it was a bit of a 'Well, I told you so' kind of moment.

But I'm just the federal member for Fisher; I'm just one person. Why would the Labor Party believe me? Those opposite might say I've got a political axe to grind. But what amazes me, what causes me utter disbelief, is how they could discount, disregard, ignore the comments that have come out of our courts about the CFMEU for years and years and years.

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