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

It's about time that this government took its job and its duty to the Australian people seriously.

This is, again, a mess of Labor's own making. This came about because the government let the CFMEU and the crooks and the spivs and the bullies and the members of outlaw motorcycle gangs off the hook when it abolished the Australian Building and Construction Commission and gave control of the construction sector in Australia to their mates in the CFMEU. As a result of Mr Albanese's decision to abolish the ABCC, we have seen a skyrocketing of criminal activity, threats, corruption, bribery, intimidation, violence, bullying, standover tactics, misappropriation of funds and other accusations of lawlessness by the CFMEU in the construction sector.

I hear the chuckle from a member of the Greens. I'm reminded that when we stood with Senator Lambie to take the strongest of stands in defence of women and the way they were treated by the CFMEU, the Greens voted against Senator Lambie's private senator's bill. The Greens did not have the courage of their convictions to stand up to John Setka and the thuggery and particularly, as Senator Lambie was focusing on, the appalling treatment of some women by this union.

As I say, we have a number of very serious concerns about this bill. This bill provides far too much discretion to the minister. In fact, under the current provisions of the bill, he could remove the CFMEU out of administration tomorrow, figuratively speaking, if he wished. If this legislation is going to be supported by the coalition, we need to make sure that it has teeth, that it makes a difference, that there is proper accountability and, frankly, that Australians' trust in the government can perhaps be restored to some degree. I don't know really know, because of the way in which Labor members, senators and candidates have covered up this disgraceful conduct over so many years.

Time and time again, we raised serious concerns about multiple breaches of the law. There were multiple findings that the law had been breached and very serious penalties issued against the CFMEU and many of its members. It is really quite disgusting that it took the work of a media organisation, the very fine work of Nick McKenzie and other journalists, to wake up this government, because it didn't seem to matter. The rap sheet of offences and intimidation, the bullying, the shocking stuff that was going on in construction sites—none of that seemed to resonate.

Of course, even Senator Wong used to work for the CFMEU. I have not heard her get up and call out the CFMEU's conduct that she obviously would have seen when she was working for them. I'm sure it was not all squeaky clean when Senator Wong was working for the CFMEU. She was an industrial officer for the CFMEU. There are times in public life when you've got to do the right thing and stand up to what is right and stand up against what is wrong.

This is a huge warning to the government. You start taking corruption, bribery and these shocking incidents of lawlessness seriously. Don't just paper over the cracks, because that's what this bill currently does. You need to give this bill teeth. You need to support all of our amendments, and only then would we agree to pass this bill.