Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Justice. Will the minister update the House on what the government is doing to disrupt organised crime in Australia and to stamp out union corruption within the building and construction industry?

Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for La Trobe for his question. As a former police officer he would understand that organised crime gangs are an ongoing threat to Australia's security, and this government remains disturbed about the links between those gangs and certain union officials. The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption has received significant evidence of widespread corruption within the building industry in particular, where union officials either facilitate that corruption or are complicit in those activities. This is particularly evident in Victoria, whose building unions are notorious. The Prime Minister joined with Premier Napthine on 30 October to announce Commonwealth funding for a joint police task force to expose illegal activities within Victoria's unions. This task force of up to 30 Victorian and federal police officers will investigate crimes as revealed by the royal commission into union corruption, which includes blackmail, extortion, kickbacks, intimidation and cartel behaviour. The counsel assisting the royal commission stated in his submission:

The evidence in relation to the CFMEU case studies indicate that a number of officials of the CFMEU seek to conduct their affairs with a deliberate and disturbing disregard for the rule of law.

That evidence is suggestive of the existence of a pervasive and unhealthy culture within the CFMEU under which:

(a) the law is to be deliberately avoided, and is to be regarded as an irrelevance, where it stands in the way of achieving the union's objectives …

This points to a disturbing underbelly within the CFMEU in particular—issues that have been wilfully ignored by previous Labor governments. As the Minister for Education pointed out, the previous Labor government abolished the tough cop on the beat, the Australian Building and Construction Commission—the one body that was standing up against corruption in the building industry. This government is determined to get to the bottom of corruption, criminality and organised crime links inside the union movement. The task force will play an essential role in that, making sure that work places in Victoria are safe and productive and are run according to the rule of law.

Despite all this evidence that has been tabled before the royal commission, the Victorian branch of the Labor Party refuses to cut ties with the convicted criminals in the CFMEU. If Daniel Andrews were to be elected Premier of Victoria, the most powerful person in Victoria would be the secretary of the Victorian CFMEU, John Setka. The risk to Victorians is too great. Those governing and those aspiring to government should not tolerate criminal activity.