Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Multicultural Engagement) Share this | Hansard source

I really do applaud Senator Lambie's courage in relation to this matter. It takes a lot of courage to come into this place and say what Senator Lambie has put on the record in relation to such a powerful organisation as the construction division of the CFMEU. I really do congratulate Senator Lambie. People listening in the gallery should know that there is a cost when Senator Lambie does what she does, because the construction division of the CFMEU do not abide by the rules. Their playbook is intimidation, threats and bullying tactics. It takes a lot of courage for Senator Lambie to do what she did. I congratulate Senator Lambie. From my perspective, it represents the very best of this place, the Senate—speaking on behalf of the most vulnerable. Senator Lambie talked about vulnerable workers in the textile industry, speaking up for those workers and their right to a safe workplace. Good on you, Senator Lambie. I congratulate you. I'm so pleased that I'm on the same side as you on this debate, and I always will be.

I have risen on many occasions and talked about the construction division of the CFMEU. This is not about trade union movements. My father was a member of a trade union, as was my mother. My sister still is. This is about the construction division of the CFMEU, a toxic blight upon our industrial relations landscape. Every single major construction project in my home state of Queensland—hospitals, schools, even the construction of Ronald McDonald House near one of our hospitals—has been subjected to intimidation, bullying tactics and unlawful conduct and behaviour by the CFMEU construction division. They are out of control.

In that context, the Labor Party got rid of the cop on the beat, the Australian Building and Construction Commission, which was the only handbrake on the CFMEU construction division. Those on that side removed that handbrake, and we are all paying for it. We're paying for it as taxpayers, because every major infrastructure project in this country is costing 30 or 40 per cent more than it should. We're paying for it in terms of the workplace health and safety of workers on those sites, of contractors, of their wellbeing. It got so bad in the state of Queensland, in my home state, that the workplace health and safety inspectors—those people employed by the regulator to go onto building sites to make sure those sites are safe for the workers—had to take industrial relations protected action because they were too scared to go on the sites, because of the CFMEU. That's how bad it got in my home state of Queensland.

This is a division of a union that is out of control, and we are all paying for it. I've got a number of cases from just the past 12 months in relation to the actions of the CFMEU. Here's one: the Fair Work Ombudsman v CFMEU, in relation to the Mordialloc Freeway project case. Every freeway that's built in this country has to try to grapple with the unlawful conduct of the CFMEU. The judge, in a judgement brought down on 21 June 2024, said that the CFMEU has a well-documented record of noncompliance with industrial laws. And this is a judge, not a politician. He said:

On any view, the CFMEU is properly to be described as a well-resourced, recidivist offender. Since 2010, it has been held to have contravened [section] 500 of the [Fair Work] act more than 170 times in no fewer than 50 proceedings …

Its record of contravening demonstrates a general disregard on its part of workplace laws …

But they don't care about the law. They don't care about the wellbeing of people in our community. Anyone in their way is fair game. It's absolutely disgraceful.

In this case, it was a female occupational health and safety manager. And I come back to Senator Lambie's point with respect to the position of the Greens. As Senator Lambie said, at every opportunity the Greens say they are for gender equality, as we all are, et cetera, et cetera. But when the rubber hits the road, where are they? In this case it was a woman who was the occupational health and safety inspector who was on the receiving end of vile language from a CFMEU thug. Senator McKim couldn't even bring himself to mention the letters C-F-M-E-U. It's disgraceful.

Here's another case. In my home state of Queensland just recently, in May, from Justice Logan of the Federal Court. In Queensland we have a bridge called the Centenary Bridge, which needs to be duplicated. Who would have thought: the CFMEU turn up—50 of them—unannounced and surround the workplace in their LandCruisers and intimidate everyone. This happened just a few months ago. This is an important piece of infrastructure. This is how a witness described it in an article in my home state:

The CFMEU are everywhere and confronting the workers on the bicycle path.

We just tried getting through. About 50 people facing off and a heap in the carpark … .

About 40 CFMEU blocked access to the front gate and surrounded a concrete truck on the main road, causing traffic problems.

That's part of their strategy. They'll go and stop the concrete pour midpour—intimidation; make sure the site incurs costs. This is hundreds of thousands of dollars of additional cost to that infrastructure, which is partly funded by the Australian taxpayer, as a result of the intimidation and bullying tactics of the CFMEU.

And where are the Australian Greens? It's absolutely outrageous. The judge had to issue an order called a penal notice to the CFMEU, including its delegates, officeholders, employees or other representatives. I'm not going to name the individuals, because they are working in a toxic culture. This is the culture of this division of this union. This is what the order says: 'If you refuse or neglect to do any act within the time specified in this order of the doing of the act or disobey the order by doing an act which the order requires you not to do, you will be liable for imprisonment, sequestration of property or other punishment. Any other person who knows of this order and does anything which helps or permits you to breach the terms of this order may be similarly punished.' That's the state we've gotten to. This isn't about orderly industrial relations conduct. The CFMEU construction division is something out of TheSopranos, without the good humour. It's an absolute disgrace.

You will not hear any member opposite in the Labor Party even mention the CFMEU. I've sat here during the debates. They refuse to even mention them, even though they sit on the national executive of the Australian Labor Party and donate millions and millions of dollars to the Australian Labor Party.

As for the Greens, it seriously just baffles me how the Australian Greens could possibly vote against this legislation. This is about the right of the textile worker members who form part of that union not wanting to be associated with the CFMEU construction division because they don't agree with the tactics of the CFMEU construction division and how they conduct themselves. On what possible basis would you say to a group of people who are currently part of a union and don't want to be part of that union because they don't agree with its intimidation, bullying, threatening and unlawful behaviour, 'No, you've got to stay there'? The Australian Greens say: 'You've got to stay there. We don't care. You've got to stay with John Setka and his bullying mates. You don't have the right to leave.' What right do the Australian Greens have to say that to those workers? What gives you the right to say that to those workers? They are people's mothers, sisters and daughters. What gives you the right to issue that edict from this place? What gives the Australian Greens the right?