Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

As I was saying, any party that supports this motion is clearly doing so only for politically motivated purposes. In other words, they do not want to see the passing of this legislation. They do not want to see legislation put in place that will protect the workers of Australia from abuse by rogue union officials. Any political party that refuses to support greater accountability and transparency for registered organisations is merely saying to the people of Australia, is saying to the workers, who have been abused by rogue union officials who have taken their money—money they have been given in good faith and spent inappropriately—'We condone that type of behaviour. We are giving the green light to that type of behaviour occurring again. We are giving the green light to the behaviour of Mr Thomson and Mr Williamson.'

All this legislation does is stand up for the Australian workers, stand up for those people who do not have the ability to stand up for themselves. If those on the other side do not want to stand up for the workers, that is their choice, but we on this side will. As I said, the Australian public, in casting their vote on 7 September, knew exactly what this government's position was in relation to accountability for registered organisations. The fact that we were elected with an overwhelming majority indicates to me that the Australian people, themselves, voted for transparency and accountability in relation to registered organisations.