Ross Cadell (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I can't even spell! Here we go. But this is what it's down to—and the effect for mums and dads out there? It means that everything costs more. We heard about the blowouts. We heard about the 30 per cent increase in costs—36 per cent, I think it was—from an individual source. Everything under these agreements costs more. So, when we look at the cost of living, when we're looking at the cost of housing, when we're looking at everything you pay, it is because of dodgy deals that we never see.

It's not just the CFMEU we want looked at; we want to look at the people who pay these bribes, that benefit from these bribes, because it is one, big, parasitic problem. I'm not just leaving it there, because there are very good unions, very good people, who look after their members, and the CFMEU is just as bad an image for the unions that do look after their members as it is for all sorts. When we hear about bikie crime gangs involved in it—we hear all these things—we don't know what's true. We obviously assume a lot—there are some great things that have come out—but an inquiry is what's needed to look at these things: the cost to the Australian public, the cost of living, the crimes that are being committed. I, personally—I will say this here—have seen video of an assault of a building supervisor on a Newcastle building site by a union representative.