Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

Just over six weeks ago the Greens had the opportunity to vote with the whole chamber and allow the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union to hold a secret ballot—a secret ballot that would enable the TCFU to run their own race. This was a few weeks before the shocking revelations from the Nine newspapers and 60 Minutes of the behaviour of John Setka and the CFMEU leadership—the bullying, the extortion, the links to organised crime. But the Greens voted against letting workers have a free vote and backing in Australia's worst union—an ugly stain on the whole union movement. This is from a party whose leader proudly proclaims that he is a feminist. I commend the government for moving quickly and bringing, finally, legislation that will determine a scheme for the administration for the CFMEU. I can assure you it's been a long time coming.

Now the blue team are asking for stronger measures. I have to ask them: what were they doing for the nine years they were actually in government? And sorry, but the ensuring integrity bill doesn't cut it. That was an omnibus bill. Get serious! That had some good laws, but it had other unions put in the same basket. You never needed to do that. You wanted to throw them all into one. That is where you come unstuck, so don't go blaming the other side. I watched this play out. You've been just as bad. And while you're there, there's a Dyson Heydon report sitting locked away. Why don't you ask them to present it out here? I read that 100-page report, and it was shocking! I don't know what you paid him for, but I can assure you he never got the job done, otherwise we wouldn't be sitting here discussing this today. We would never have been discussing it today. You lacked the ability to get the job done, so you're as bad as each other!

Unfortunately, you always have to watch out for government bills that have the word integrity in the title. They had a royal commission that failed utterly and brought no control over the bully boys of the CFMEU; it just gave them huge fines. What's that ever going to do? What we don't need is more inquiries. Thanks to whistleblowers and journalists, Australians are in no doubt whatsoever about what the leadership of this union has been up to. It has been absolutely—I don't even have a word for it! It has been shameful, and they've got away with it for this long. You cannot tell me that the ETU isn't attached and didn't know what was going on. There are members of your own party over there who've known exactly what has been going on for years.

You'd better make sure this bloke is doing the job properly, this administrator. I can tell you there's a hell of a lot more filth to come out, and there are going to be people's names attached to it, if it is done properly. If you're not going to do it properly, then you might as well stop it now, because I don't want to waste any more time. A Senate inquiry won't bring any more evidence against the bully boys of the CFMEU. I'll be looking forward to having the Comancheros and the Rebels sitting before me, because you people won't get witnesses coming forward. They're too scared. They won't come forward. They've got lives. They've got families. They will not dare to come in here. But I look forward—and I'm sure the chair, Senator Hanson, does—to standing in front of John Setka and his bully mates. We have no problem. But that's all you're going to get at a Senate inquiry. It will be a waste of time because nobody in their right mind, without proper whistleblower laws, is going to come forward; they're just not.

I'm hoping that you people are not going to grandstand over there in the coalition. Seriously, I'm sick of it. I don't want any more grandstanding. I just want a job that's done properly to finally set these bully boys where they need to be. My God, they are shocking!

But what about the Australian Greens? What will they do? What will they do? What will they do? Most Australian women are unionist. They are teachers. They are nurses. They are childcare workers. And they are textile workers, something you didn't stand for last time. The Greens have a lot to say about women on the website, including:

3. Women have the right to equal access and participation in decision making processes in all areas of political, social, cultural, intellectual and economic life—

except when it comes to the CFMEU and their bully tactics. Apparently, according to the Greens, women in the union movement have no rights. Otherwise, you would have stood up for them six weeks ago instead of the bully boys of the CFMEU. You aren't listening to those women who are asking all of us in this place to take action against the union that has a culture of misogyny, bullying and harassment. This is the underbelly of the Greens. That's who they are—the underbelly. My goodness! This is where you've got to. This is your hypocrisy on full display. So are you going to vote with us today? Are you going to finally have the courage to put the CFMEU in their place? That's what I want to know from the Greens: where are you going to be today?

I can tell you: what an embarrassment for you guys. You should get up with it. Some of us knew that 60 Minutes report was coming. I want to know what you're getting from the CFMEU. Why didn't you vote for those women? And, if you don't vote against the CFMEU and start putting them in their place today, I want to know what you're getting. What are you getting? Election ads? Is it a handing out for the Greens on election day? The Greens just love telling Australians that their emissions don't stink, that they are always the ones that stand on the moral high ground. The moral high ground hey? Look what they did to those textile women six weeks ago. If that is the moral high ground, blow me away! All I want to know from the Greens is a simple question: are they standing in the gutter with the thugs that lead the CFMEU, or are they actually going to stand, finally, behind what they say—their high and moral ground?