Louise Markus (Macquarie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak about the despicable act by the secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, ACTU, Dave Oliver. I sent an apology to Mr Oliver on 20 October indicating I would be interstate on parliamentary duties, prearranged several months earlier, and therefore unable to attend their debate on ChAFTA in Penrith on 28 October—their sham and fake debate. Dissatisfied with the response, Mr Oliver requested I reconsider my decision and, again, on 26 October, yet another response was sent to Mr Oliver reiterating that I could not attend due to parliamentary duties. Following this, information was still disseminated that I was attending this fake debate and this was perpetuated across social media.

This is nothing more and nothing less than a cheap, political and grossly misleading campaign driven by the ACTU's own fear of losing membership, especially given that in recent weeks ABS data revealed that in just 12 months, union membership had fallen from 17 per cent of the workforce to just 15 per cent. Union members deserve principled, ethical leadership. They do not deserve to be pawns in the ACTU's partisan political games, with their union fees being spent on ugly, deceptive campaigns.

On Monday, 2 November in the Macquarie electorate, I attended a real free trade agreement forum, looking at all of the free trade agreements in North Asia. It was attended by real people, running real businesses, that intend to create more jobs as they expand their business and their exports.