Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition is actually the party who said 'Enough is enough' when we went to a double-dissolution election in 2016, because we wanted to clean up the construction industry in Australia. The coalition is the party that said 'Enough is enough' when we went to a double-dissolution election in 2016 to restore and put in place the Registered Organisations Commission, and guess what? Despite everything those opposite threw at us, every single step of the way—you want to talk about bullying, thuggery and intimidation? Try standing up the tough cop on the beat. Well, guess what? The Australian people put their faith in us. We went to a double-dissolution election because we believed in cleaning up the industry and we were successful in putting in place the ABCC and the Registered Organisations Commission. But it didn't stop there.

We said as a government 'Enough is enough' when we sought to bring in the ensuring integrity bill that would have held—all those years ago, almost going on a decade—union officials who do the wrong thing in this country to account, but guess what? Those opposite made every possible excuse in the book for some of the vilest bullying I have ever heard of in my life, for some of the vilest intimidation I have ever heard of in my life, for some of the vilest harassment I have ever heard of in my life. Believe you me, it wasn't just in the last few weeks that Australia woke up to the fact that organised crime is running the CFMEU. This has been known for years and years, yet so many of those opposite owe their preselection to the CFMEU and so many have worked for the CFMEU in this place. You are all part of the Australian Labor Party, which has taken dollar after dollar, $6.2 million since Mr Albanese became the leader of the opposition—proceeds directly flowing from the CFMEU to the Australian Labor Party. Yet you fought us every single step of the way.

When you come into this place and table a piece of legislation that (a) you could drive a truck through, and (b) looks like it was written by John Setka for you, please don't accuse us of running a protection racket for the union. The only people who have ever run a protection racket for the CFMEU are the Australian Labor Party. They talk a big game, but they are weak when it comes to putting in place the legislation that will actually do the job. Why won't they legislate to ban the taking of political donations? That is a question the media should be asking. They say: 'Trust us. We won't take them.' Guess what? I don't trust you. The construction industry doesn't trust you, and the Australian people do not trust you. Legislate the ban on political donations.

For a government that talks such a big game on transparency, when the acid is finally put on, they run a mile. Are you actually kidding me that a senior King's Counsel is not able to front the Australian Senate for one or two hours three times a year to answer questions as to how the administration is going? Not only that, why won't you put in place a minimum period of administration? It's because you just want the problem to go away and then start again.