Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I think the only thing in tatters in this chamber at the moment is the credibility of the opposition, because what we've seen here is a continuing attack on an effective and highly credible minister of the Crown, one who is performing very ably in her role and who is revealing what the populace of Australia knows about the Australian Labor Party, the current opposition, and its leader: that the links to the union movement are corrosive and destructive.

We've seen the evidence presented by Minister Cash—credible, extensive evidence—to Senate estimates hearings revealing she was not aware of the AFP raids until they occurred and were reported in television coverage. Senator Cash made it very clear that she was not aware that her staff member had made the tip-off. She was informed, in fact, that there was no such tip-off. Senator Cash has been completely upfront and honest. She has appeared before Senate estimates hearings on this topic, she has presented herself in this place and we have seen extensive questioning from the opposition that has got absolutely nowhere. Why are the opposition continuing their attack on this highly effective and credible minister? Because they are running a protection racket for their leader, Bill Shorten. They're running a protection racket on donations to his own election campaign and on donations made to GetUp! when he was national secretary of the AWU. There are very important questions to be answered in this space and the answers have not been forthcoming from the Labor Party. They attack Minister Cash and they continue their attacks even when the results are proven to be so ineffective in this place.

We've seen so many examples of union members' money being wasted on unauthorised expenditure. Recently there was a union official given a 13-month sentence for spending union members' money on things like hen's parties, botox, kitchens and other personal expenses. And everyone in this place remembers Craig Thomson and what he was using the Health Services Union credit card for.

This use of union members' money should be of absolute concern to the Australian Labor Party—to the opposition in this place—but they don't seem to care. They just want to attack Minister Cash; they want to try to run their protection racket on Bill Shorten. What have we heard from the trade union royal commission? The trade union royal commission said:

The conduct that has emerged discloses systemic corruption and unlawful conduct, including corrupt payments, physical and verbal violence, threats, intimidation, abuse of right of entry permits, secondary boycotts, breaches of fiduciary duty and contempt of court.

That is the finding of a royal commission, and the reason why the opposition continues to attack Minister Cash is because it doesn't like the findings of the royal commission. It doesn't like the efforts of this government to crack down on union corruption—to pass laws banning secret payments between unions and big business.

In the past, millions of dollars of dodgy payments changed hands in exchange for unions selling down workers' pay and conditions. They didn't like the introduction of the ABCC: they didn't like the re-introduction of the ABCC, the industrial watchdog on the block of the building industry, making sure that we try to reduce the level of criminality and negative tactics in the building industry. We've seen massive hypocrisy on penalty rates, where we've seen low-paid workers sold down the river by their union bosses. It's a disgraceful fact that, as a union boss, Mr Shorten cut deals to lower penalty rates, including in the retail and hospitality industries by the same rate the Fair Work Commission is now applying for workers on the relevant awards.

They stripped penalty rates from low-paid cleaning workers at Clean Event, with no compensation. This is why the opposition continues to attack Minister Cash, one of the most effective and high-quality operators in this place.