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

I have seen the report and it is deeply concerning. Many people have described the photomontage in The Herald Sun as 'the mugs of thugs'. One individual named is CFMEU assistant secretary Shaun Reardon, who was refused a right of entry permit by the Fair Work Commission, which found that his behaviour was responsible for $459,000 worth of fines to the union and himself and concluded that he was not a fit and proper person to hold such a permit.

Whilst the Master Builders Association is exercising its legal right to deny Mr Reardon entry to building sites, there are others who are more than happy to invite Mr Reardon onto their premises, most notably the Victorian ALP's state conference, which had Mr Reardon as a star guest speaker. And the party's official Twitter account sent out a tweet praising him. And when Mr Reardon is not speaking at ALP conferences he is, according to a recent media report, cultivating his ties with outlaw bikie gangs.

These latest abuses of the right of entry regime have occurred despite Labor promising in 2007 that 'federal Labor will maintain the existing right of entry rules without exception'. That is completely unequivocal, yet we know that, clause after clause, they loosened them. So, just like Labor's 'no carbon tax', the coalition is actually committed to implementing Labor's policy of no carbon tax and taking the right of entry laws back to where Labor promised they should be. (Time expired)