Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source

I can inform the distinguished chair of the Senate's education and employment committee that I am aware of the media reports this weekend. Those reports interestingly enough actually appeared in the Fairfax media. Those revelations told us about hundreds of thousands of dollars being used to fight not for trade union members but for union leaders, their fiefdoms and ALP endorsements. Given the vast amounts of money, it is clear that it is not just a benign, innocent social club type of operation; we are talking hundreds of thousands of dollars here. Indeed, in relation to the Transport Workers Union slush fund the suggestion was that it was a minimum of half a million dollars. That is not just some Christmas social club; that is a huge amount of money. It is serious money with serious consequences—money held in secret funds, in buckets and in brown paper bags.

If these activities of union officials were to be core business, one asks the question rhetorically: why wouldn't these moneys be put through the trade unions official accounts and disclosed as they lodge their returns each and every year with the Fair Work Commission? Trade union members around the country are entitled to be assured that the money that they pay to unions is on the basis of an insurance policy rather than wanting to hold hands and sing Solidarity Forevermost of these people actually sign up and pay as an insurance policy. To look after their money, we have introduced the registered organisations commission bill and we encourage Labor— (Time expired)