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

I notice the Greens this morning said we should all look at ourselves in the mirror. Well, do you know what? I say, 'Right back at you.' Quite frankly, I have no idea why you're blocking this legislation. They are thugs. They are bullies. They treat women like second-class citizens. That is what the CFMEU are doing. Yet, you're standing by them. It blows me away.

I've very good sources that have told me that construction workers are being compelled to join the CFMEU for an annual fee of $1,200 as a condition for participating in Victoria's Big Build project. This practice raises serious concerns about the violation of workers' rights and the enforcement of freedom of association, which is a fundamental legal principle in Australia. My sources say this is happening on foreign owned, tier 1 contractors, such as CPB, John Holland and ACCIONA. They must be held account for their apparent disregard for Australian law. These companies must follow our local laws or lose the privilege of working on taxpayer funded projects. I've also received credible information that suggests these tier 1 contractors may be colluding with the CFMEU to breach anticompetition laws and engage in price-fixing on government projects. This alleged conspiracy involves selecting only CFMEU endorsed, non-competitive labour hire firms, undermining fair competition.

Specifically, I want to address a senior executive. Let's call him Craig; that's not his real name. Craig moved from the CPB to the UGL and the CIMIC Group company. It has come to my attention that Craig may have collaborated with the CFMEU to unfairly target and remove AWU affiliated workers from a government funded project in Melbourne. Not only is this unethical; it's illegal, and this behaviour cannot be tolerated. Craig is just one of many that I have been made aware. If foreign owned contractors continue to engage in, or turn a blind eye to, this level of corruption, then the government need to consider withholding taxpayer funding from their federal projects, effective immediately.

Regarding certain CFMEU officials, including Gerry McCrudden and his associate Jerry McQuaid, both men were exposed by Age journalist Nick McKenzie for threatening a traffic management firm. This government needs to investigate the possibility of revoking their work rights in Australia, once again effective immediately. Joe Myles, who I understand plays a significant role in orchestrating these activities in Victoria, should also be looked at. As a senior vice-president of the CFMEU, Joe Myles's actions reflect very poorly not just on him but on the organisation as a whole. It's time to remove individuals like Joe and the other dumb and dumber officials I've mentioned from any involvement in government funded construction projects. If the Greens can find their courage today and help get that administrator in place, the administrator will be able to look at the CFMEU credit cards, and I'm looking forward to that because I've been told they will find some interesting charges. That's right—some interesting charges.

But I say this: while I'm waiting for the administrator, if the ATO and ASIC aren't already on to this, before we make fools of you, I suggest you start looking at it today because this is part of your departmental jobs. Here's a wake-up call. There is information available out there. People are prepared to come forward. So, once again, if the ATO and ASIC aren't looking at this, I suggest it'd be very wise to start looking before you are called out.

Finally, ongoing issues with union raffles, ghosting by union officials and the alleged skimming of funds from training programs, long-service leave, income protection and superannuation also need to be put under the administrator's microscope. It needs to be part of the whole program. If you're not going to look at them in full, then we're wasting taxpayers' money by going in the first time. Once and for all, if just one side of politics could finally clean up the CFMEU and set an example, then the rest of the unions can follow, and we'd have a much better Australia for it. There is no doubt. These activities appear to be designed to siphon off money from workers to benefit union officials—but who would've guessed?—rather than serving the interests of the workers they claim to be representing. If we can get this administrator in place today, that'd be a good start at cleaning this up. Every day we wait is another day that this corruption and intimidation just goes on and on.

Additionally, in Queensland and now Western Australia, they have introduced the best-practice industry conditions. This is a CFMEU takeover by stealth, and they are coming in those states. Isn't it interesting that they're both Labor states? They're feeding their own. In Queensland, all projects over $100 million are subject to the best-practice industry conditions, and, in Western Australia, the threshold of $1 million is coming soon. We have EBAs and industrial agreements, and now these state are bringing in CFMEU conditions by stealth through state based legislation. That's what your own state Labor parties are doing to you. They are working against you, and they should be shameful.

I'll tell you now: I'd love to see every Labor Party that is in power in every state also join up to the three years where they'll not take any money from the CFMEU. I want to hear it from them. I want to know what your partners in the states are doing on this, because it's going to cause, and is causing, credible damage. It shouldn't be just the federal party not taking money; it's about time your Labor states and your premiers out there grew a backbone and said: 'We too are going to join the forces here. We are not taking CFMEU donations for three years.' Otherwise, this is just a joke, and it makes you people over here look really bad. I have to say: what is the point of EBAs and fair work if the states introduce their own rules? That is where we are at, and, seriously, it's just beyond a joke.

I want to hear from you Labor premiers out there. I'm putting it on you today, and you journalists should be ringing every single one of them and asking them if they are going to say, 'We are not taking money from the CFMEU as of today.' Let's see what you've got.