Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Let me start by clarifying for the Senate—because one could be forgiven for not realising this from Senator Watt's contribution—that investigations by the ROC focus on both employer organisations and unions. It's wrong to say that it is a body only responsible for unions. In fact, most recently, an employer body against whom the ROC took court action was the Queensland branch of the Australian Hotels Association, and the penalty was paid by that organisation.

Let me go to some of the other questions that Senator Watt has raised. It is very important, I think, to clarify for the record that the ROC is an independent statutory regulator. It brings cases in accordance with its compliance policy—