Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I continue to remind those opposite what this has got to do with members of parliament. Over a very long period of time, the CFMEU have backed their union representatives who end up in the parliament.

As I said in July 2020: 'Revelations in today's media name the CFMMEU's John Setka as one of the union bosses pursuing payment. It is alleged that hundreds of thousands of dollars are involved. It's also reported that the CFMEU provided close to 100 volunteers to Ms Coker, and also to the Labor MP Ms Kearney.' And so, as I do right now and as I did back then, I say this: the member for Corangamite needs to reveal whether these union election donations were properly recorded and declared as required by the Australian Electoral Commission. The member for Corangamite needs to come clean with what happened.

She reportedly defected to Victorian Labor's extreme Socialist Left faction. I think she then went to another faction. Who would know? There are just so many shabby factional deals. The people of Corangamite deserve answers. Did she repay this money? Why was this demand made? Was this money properly declared? And why are members, like the member for Corangamite, embroiled in these dirty deals with this union when we have known for years that they have been up to their neck in unlawful behaviour, bullying and intimidation. It is an absolute and utter disgrace, so I say to the member for Corangamite: it is time that your constituents knew what went on. 'What deal was done with John Setka?' I say to the member for Corangamite. Why was she required to repay money, which was reportedly hundreds of thousands of dollars? What money was given in the first place and what was the agreement? Frankly, Australians have had enough.

It is no wonder that we have such a disaster in our economy in Victoria under the reckless state Labor government, after years of shonky deals with this union that have driven up construction costs in Victoria by some 30 per cent. I say to the minister responsible, Minister Watt, who is sitting opposite in the chamber: if the Albanese government is serious about taking on the CFMEU then this legislation must have teeth. Get a bit of Bob Hawke. Invoke his spirit, his guts, his courage, because we're not seeing it from this Prime Minister and this government.

We are going to be pursuing a number of amendments. The administration must apply to all branches of the CFMEU for a minimum of three years. The minister should not have the ability to end the administration early. The scheme of administration can only be varied by the Federal Court on the application of the administrator. The legislation must clearly set out what must be in the scheme of administration; this should not be determined solely at the whim of the minister. Political donations, political campaigns and advertising by the CFMEU should be explicitly banned during the period of administration. Frankly, if the Prime Minister had any moral courage he would repay the $4 million that he has received in CFMEU donations since he became the Prime Minister. It's $6.2 million in total and four grubby million dollars from this union since Labor was elected.

We also want to see greater transparency. The administrator must provide a written report to parliament, every three months after the commencement of the administration, about its activities and progress and appear at Senate estimates. The administrator must also be given the ability to impose longer expulsion or disqualification periods for officers. There must be a new fit-and-proper-person test. There must be the ability for a special purpose auditor to examine the financial dealings of the CFMEU. The special purpose auditor's first report needs to be tabled by the final sitting day of 2024.

If these and other amendments are not agreed to by the government, we know that this government is only giving the CFMEU a slap across the back of the hand with a wet lettuce. I also invoke Paul Keating in that reference, because one thing I will say about both Bob Hawke and Paul Keating is that they had the courage of their convictions when it came to driving certain reforms. This would never have been tolerated if Bob Hawke were the Prime Minister, but we have a weak and unprincipled government running this country, led by a weak and unprincipled Prime Minister, the most left-leaning Prime Minister in living memory.