Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

'Should've had it years ago,' says Senator Williams. I think that's right. Senator Williams and I were on the economics committee when we did deal with that issue. That's been taken up, subsequently, by Senator Williams and Senator Dastyari in relation to a banks royal commission.

Labor is of the view that, if you're going to be serious about corruption and you're not biased against the trade union movement, you should deal with these issues. We have had the Greens say that we should have a national corruption oversight. Well, as I said, I don't disagree with that, but I have to indicate that there is a committee looking at that issue now, and that should be dealt with. I'm of the view that this is simply an attack on the trade union movement. It's a biased approach from this government. It's an incompetent approach by this government. We've had bank bill swap rates problems at Westpac and we've had money laundering with the Commonwealth Bank. Do you hear them getting up and saying anything about that? Not very often. They do the minimum they have to do to stop any ongoing inquiry, and they are opposed to a royal commission into the banks.

The Liberal Party itself—talk about corruption! We've got donations in Newcastle being handed over by developers, in the back seat of a Bentley, in a brown paper bag. Do you ever hear this lot say anything about that? No.

Senator Williams interjecting—

We've had 10 MPs in the NSW Liberal Party lose their seats because of the corruption that went on in the Liberal Party.