Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Housing. The minister yesterday in question time claimed CFMEU corruption and illegality has 'no impact on residential construction in the view of some experts'. Can the minister name those experts?

Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will just say to the member opposite that I am not sure what point he is trying to make here. If he believes that the CFMEU are driving up residential construction costs—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Moreton and the Leader of the Opposition will cease interjecting. The member was heard in silence, and the minister's going to be given the same courtesy.

Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If the member opposite believes that the CFMEU is driving up residential construction prices then why are the Liberals not helping us clean up this union in the Senate? Whatever your view about this, the policy fix is the same. We have a union that's a problem and our government is taking steps to fix it, and the Liberals are trying to stop us from doing it.

Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order on relevance. This was, under your instructions, a very tight question. There was nothing expansive about the question. It referred to the minister's statement and asked her to name those experts. If the minister cannot name those experts because she made that up—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Resume your seat. The member for Deakin is entitled to take a point of order. He is not entitled to then add extra commentary to the point of order. That is an abuse of the standing orders. He was on a warning. He will now leave the chamber under 94(a).

The member for Deakin then left the chamber.

Has the minister concluded her answer? No? The minister is in continuation, then.

Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Isn't the air just feeling a little bit fresher in here now without the member for Deakin in the chamber? Not for the first time the member for Deakin is making absolutely no sense. If he is concerned about the impact this union is having on residential construction prices then he can go into his caucus room and talk to his senator colleagues about helping our government clean up this union.

Opposition members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What's up with these guys today, Speaker?

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will cease her remarks. The Leader of the Opposition is on his feet. The Leader of the Opposition has the call on a point of order.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. It's obviously a serious topic. I ask whether your ruling is that this minister is in order.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We've been going down this path for a while. If I make a ruling at the time, as I did, there's no opportunity to come back and ask for a second chance on what the ruling was. No other Leader of the Opposition has done that before. We have moved on. I'm just going to ask the minister to conclude her answer.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm asking for your ruling, Mr Speaker, if it wasn't clear before. I thought it was. To make it clear for the House, is it your ruling that the minister is relevant to the question that was asked of her?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That's a second point of order on relevance, which is clearly outside of standing orders.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes. Just so I'm clear to the Leader of the Opposition: you don't have standing to raise another point of order on clarification of a ruling. It's never happened before in practice. I understand what you're trying to do. You're trying to get me to go back in time to say what my ruling was and clarify it.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can ask you to make a ruling, Mr Speaker, under standing orders.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sure, but we'd already made it. When I dealt with the member for Deakin, if you were not happy with the way I handled that and you wanted to move something on that, you could have done that. It doesn't enable you to do that in the future. We've done this a couple of times. Just for the clarity of the House, when a ruling is made, that is the time to take action. You're not to then wait a couple of minutes or 30 seconds to go: 'I seek your ruling. What was your ruling?' Okay? The minister will conclude her answer.

Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Speaker. I regard these continuous points of order as a real mark of success and a great compliment from those opposite. Thank you so much, fellas!

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister is going to conclude her answer without commentary.

Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In concluding, I would say that it's very clear what's going on here. The coalition are in the parliament again, and they are playing politics within an inch of its life. If they cared about costs in residential construction, as they claim to do, they should tell their Senate colleagues to go into the Senate and help our government clean up this sector.

Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. What action is the Albanese Labor government taking to clean up the CFMEU?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Chief Government Whip for the question. The No. 1 job of any union is to protect its members and to look out for their interests. The reported behaviour from the construction division of the CFMEU is the opposite of this, and the government has zero tolerance for violence or thuggery or intimidation. The best way to deal with this is by putting the union into administration. We made clear that we would support an application from the regulator, the general manager of the Fair Work Commission, and we would intervene in support of an application for the union to be put into administration. We also made clear that, if the union in any way resisted that application, we were willing to legislate. It's clear that the union has not agreed with what was put forward in the Federal Court, and therefore we are legislating.

There are effectively two groups that have been seeking to delay administration. We always presumed there would be the lawyers from the CFMEU. We hadn't suspected there would be the senators of the Liberal and National parties. But we have a situation now where the unity ticket on delaying the union being put into administration—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Fisher will cease interjecting.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What some of the leadership of that construction division could have only dreamed of is being considered to be delivered for them by the Leader of the Opposition and his senators. The impact of administration is that the government's bill will ensure a clear pathway for an administrator to take charge of all branches of the construction division of the CFMEU for up to three years, to review individual union officials and determine whether or not they should retain their position—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Fisher is warned.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

and to examine how money is being spent and whether money being spent is in the best interests of members. Legislation puts obligations on officers, on employees and on professional advisers to cooperate with the administrator to access all assets, all property and documents for the purpose of the administration. If you had deregistration, though, the entire leadership would remain in place. Because of laws that were changed under WorkChoices, their capacity to appear before the commission would remain constant. There is an opportunity now where, if we want to clean up this organisation, the legislation is before the parliament, and it should be passed.