Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence Industry representing the Minister for Employment. Will the minister outline to the House why it is important that employer and employee organisations always act in the best interests of their members? And is the minister aware of alternative approaches?

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I see that my friends on the other side are still standing up for John Setka, as usual. They like trashing public servants who work hard. They like trashing public servants who put themselves—in fact, their bodies—on the line against the CFMEU. They stand up for John Setka instead. Yesterday the Federal Court handed down record fines against the CFMEU of $2.4 million. The judge at the centre of that decision, Judge Geoffrey Flick, said:

It is difficult, if not impossible, to envisage any worse conduct than that pursued by the CFMEU

The jury is so in on the CFMEU. Yet still the Leader of the Opposition refuses to expel the CFMEU from the Labor Party and he continues to take their donations—donations from the CFMEU that, since he's been the leader, now total $8 million. So, the CFMEU has very, very deep pockets, to be able to bankroll the Labor Party, particularly in Victoria.

Mr Brian Mitchell interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I couldn't have been more clear with the member for Lyons at the start of question time. He can leave under 94(a). He has clearly chosen to be ejected.

The member for Lyons then left the chamber.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They clearly are pleased to bankroll the Labor Party in Victoria. They're also quite happy to pay these fines. They've been fined again and again. As Justice Geoffrey Flick said:

The CFMEU … has repeatedly sought to place itself above the law.

…   …   …

The CFMEU's conduct exposes a cavalier disregard for the prior penalties imposed by this court …

It's the responsibility of the leaders in Australia to lead by example and to say to the CFMEU, 'You're not welcome in the Labor Party until you get your act together.' Bob Hawke was tough enough, and John Cain was tough enough to stand up to the BLF. The Leader of the Opposition allows the CFMEU into every single forum of the Labor Party in Victoria: into their preselections, into their policy-setting processes, into the governance of the Labor Party. The CFMEU and the Labor Party are in lock step. One of the CFMEU leaders, whose union was fined yesterday, at the Barangaroo site in Sydney described the investigators from the Fair Work Commission as being worse than paedophiles—worse than paedophiles! A union leader said a public servant doing his job was worse than a paedophile. These are the kinds of people the Leader of the Opposition stands up for. He now has the 'cash for stacks' scandal in Victoria to deal with—the cesspit that is the Labor Party in Victoria, and this Leader of the Opposition sits on top of that cesspit. (Time expired)