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

Indeed, I will. This isn't about politics. Senator Whish-Wilson said this is about politics. This is not about politics. This is the Senate doing the work it should do in terms of standing up for vulnerable people in the community who are being monstered by this unlawful activity of the CFMEU construction division. That is why we are here. It is certainly why I am here. Senator Jacqui Lambie's impassioned speech will be at great personal cost. Don't be in any doubt. You don't take on people like the CFMEU construction division without suffering a personal cost. So, again, I applaud the courage of Senator Jacqui Lambie. She had an option. She could stay silent. She could say nothing when these workers are in this terrible position. But she chose not to. She was the first to rise in this place back in February to seek action in relation to this issue, and she should be applauded for that. Senator Jacqui Lambie has been proven to be absolutely correct. Hats off to Senator Lambie in that respect.

So this is not about politics—far from it. It's about the wellbeing of these workers. It's about their industrial democratic right to choose not to be part of a union infested with mugs, bullies and people who break the law. It doesn't get more fundamental than that, and yet the Australian Greens take it upon themselves to say that they can deny those workers their industrial democratic right to choose to demerge. Those workers don't want to be part of the construction division of the CFMEU. They don't want to be associated with them, and I can well understand why. What gives the Australian Greens the right to do that? It just flummoxes me. Really, you should reconsider. Senator McKim, at times I've stood, as you know, and congratulated you on certain things, absolutely. I'll do it again, but, seriously, you should really reconsider. I know you're a person with a good heart, and I know you would not want your daughter, sister or anyone close to you to be at the receiving end of the intimidating thuggery of the construction division of the CFMEU. They really are beyond the pale.

As I think a previous speaker said, they actually do wider damage to the broader trade union movement because the reality is, if you look at the figures in terms of contraventions of the law, the CFMEU construction division are absolutely off the planet with their offending. Then, at the other end of the scale, you get the odd infringement from some of the other unions. But the CFMEU construction division are off the planet and our workers are suffering because of it. Every single Australian taxpayer suffers because of it because the cost of every single construction project in this country is 30 or 40 per cent over what it should be due to those intimidatory tactics such as occurred at the Centenary Bridge in Queensland when concrete pours were interrupted. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional construction costs were added to that project, which we paid for. That was money which could have gone into social programs to help people in need in the community but was just wasted as the 50 CFMEU workers surrounded that worksite. Can you imagine what that's like? They had to lock the gates on the worksite. They were fearful for their wellbeing. Have a look at the video of what occurred: those are the tactics of the CFMEU construction division.

I think every single senator in this place should support this legislation, and every single senator in this place should congratulate Senator Lambie for her courage in taking this fight on.