Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move amendment (1) on sheet 8197:

(1) Schedule 1, item 3, page 8 (line 23), after "made for a", insert "reasonable".

The reason is obvious: we need to tighten this inadvertent loophole. We need to stop corrupt or corruptible union bosses and companies from continuing to steal from honest union members and honest workers. We need to stop the cabal of large companies, employers and union bosses from hurting small businesses and we need to protect the taxpayers.

Yesterday I discussed some examples. Here are some more. Chiquita Mushrooms paid the AWU Victoria $24,000 to avoid industrial unrest while it was transitioning its mushroom picking workforce to labour hire. The AWU falsely invoiced the payments as paid education leave and never disclosed the payments to the Chiquita employees—the very people they were steal the money from and supposed to be supporting. Winslow Constructors paid the AWU Victoria around $200,000 and provided the union with lists of employee names that were used to secretly sign up employees to the union. In return, the AWU provided Winslow with advanced notice of the terms of a competitor's enterprise agreement, giving them a competitive advantage. The AWU hid the payments behind false invoices for OH&S training, health and safety training, workplace inspections and similar. This is why we need this amendment.

BMD Constructions paid the AWU—there it is again, AWU Victoria—more than $30,000 and provided the union with a list of employee names that was used to secretly sign up employees to the union. The payments were made around the time of enterprise agreement negotiations and appeared to be a move to secure industrial peace. In 1992, the Gyles royal commission found that employers made numerous corrupt or improper payments to union bosses associated with the NSW branch of the Building Workers Industrial Union. These payments were apparently made to secure industrial peace and good relations with the union. And on and on it goes. Union bosses are now a law unto themselves in some unions. That's unlawful. They are outlaws.

Labor and the Greens are simply protecting their cash flow from corrupt union bosses. We need to tighten the wording to protect union members and their money from corrupt companies and union bosses. I commend this amendment.