Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Shorten's campaign staffer. Thank you for that. I emphasise that it was Mr Shorten MP, the current Leader of the Opposition. The $40,000 he got from that company negotiating a pay deal was used to staff Mr Shorten's campaign office in 2007, but it was not disclosed until just two days before the royal commission asked him about these matters in sworn evidence. Senators would also have heard of Cesar Melhem, who is well-known in Labor circles and in this building. He repeatedly issued false invoices—marked 'Training', 'OHS' and similar—to companies, when they were actually payments for union membership to the value of hundreds of thousands of dollars. These are not just monetary figures that roll off the tongue; these are contributions paid by workers who go out, do a day's work, get their pay and then contribute a certain amount of that pay towards union memberships, because they believe that the unions will be doing the right thing by them. It is those sorts of people who are being ripped off by this, and I cannot understand that any party that claims to look after these workers could possibly oppose this sort of accountability that will bring honesty—