Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Sorry—Minister Shorten. Under Minister Shorten's plan, former union bosses are going to be regulating current union bosses. In a democracy, there is an issue with institutions investigating their own, because people can be unduly influenced by the relationships they have built. Having an independent cop on the beat protects everyone involved in the conversation.

The rules are still weak, and the penalties are still weak. While penalties are in line with other civil penalties in the Fair Work Act, they still fall considerably short of those required under the Corporations Act. Essentially, we would have one set of organisations in the industrial sphere operating under separate rules with fewer penalties for doing the wrong thing, and that is simply not acceptable. We still cannot provide a brief of evidence, and police cooperation still is not bedded down.

In the context of the inquiry into the bill being conducted for such a short amount of time, I would like to make the comment that the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills wrote to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, the Hon. Bill Shorten, seeking advice on certain aspects of the bill, such as privilege against self-incrimination et cetera. The employment committee report on this bill said:

The Minister's response is unlikely to be received before the tabling of this report.

So people against the bill have to hurry and get their submissions in, and the coalition have to hurry to prosecute the case, but we are still waiting on the minister's response to the very real concerns raised by this bill. How typical of this government! We are rushed through the bill, this copycat legislation, and our comments are guillotined. This is a bill designed by a former union boss to regulate union bosses that sees former union bosses as the cops on the beat. We want to see an independent body. We need to get serious about accountability in this area. I will conclude my remarks in order to cede to the many coalition senators who are seeking the call. Thank you.