Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to recognise three great moments of people acting surprised in the performing arts when something very bad is revealed that they knew about all along: Casablanca'I'm shocked, shocked, to find out that gambling is going on in here'; Muriel's Wedding'Deirdre Chambers, what a coincidence!'; and Australia's Minister for the Arts and Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations on 17 July—'The reported behaviour from the construction division of the CFMEU is abhorrent, and it's intolerable.' This is the same minister who jumped to the CFMEU's bidding to abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission in 2022, the same minister who rammed through successive rounds of changes to the Fair Work Act to give new powers to CFMEU officials to enter into businesses anywhere in Australia, bringing their baseball bats with them, and the same minister who failed to support a bill in February 2024 which would have allowed the manufacturing division to demerge from the CFMEU, something which the mainly women workers in the textile, clothing and footwear sector desperately wanted.

Labor claims to support the equality of women in the workforce, but it's amazing how you can overlook your principles for $6.2 million of donations. The conduct of the member for Watson and the Albanese Labor government in running a protection racket for the CFMEU has been a disgrace. Thankfully, Labor's wet-lettuce administration bill has been toughened up thanks to great work by Senator Cash, but it was only necessary because this Prime Minister was willing to look the other way— (Time expired)