James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Following on from Senator Cash, this chamber exists for one reason only. It is the house of review. And when it is a house of review it means it holds the government to account. We have a government in this country who are becoming a byword for secrecy, for lack of transparency and for lack of accountability. This is a government who, before the last election, promised to be the most transparent ever, to be the most accountable ever. But actually this government is going to go down as the least transparent government, the least accountable government and the most secretive government ever since Federation in 1901.

The motion here, moved by Senator Bragg, is actually not a controversial motion. It's just this Senate setting out its rights in relation to the production of documents. This is what this chamber exists for. This chamber has said, 'We want these documents in the interests of the taxpayers and the people of Australia.' And what did this Labor Party government do? They went: 'No, you cannot have these documents. You cannot have this information.' Senator Bragg, through various means, was able to get those documents and to show the connection between Cbus, the CFMEU and the Labor Party.

This is what it comes down to. This government doesn't want you to know what is going on, because there is a massive conflict of interest not just in relation to policy on the housing issue in Australia at the moment but also in terms of how money is laundered through the CFMEU to Cbus, back to the CFMEU and to the Labor Party. Senator Cash mentioned then the $1.25 million of members' money from the Cbus super fund that went to the CFMEU. Then the CFMEU donated $6.2 million to the Labor Party. The Labor Party, by the way, has not returned this money. The Labor Party is quite happy to keep the $6.2 million of CFMEU members' donations. Despite the Labor Party's protestations about how bad the CFMEU suddenly is, they're very happy to take the money. There is conflict of interest.

Who is the National President of the Labor Party? It is Wayne Swan, the world's worst treasurer. Who is the current Treasurer? It's Dr Jim Chalmers. He's not a medical doctor, so, if you've got a headache, don't go and see him; you'll get a worse headache, because he'll talk to you! This guy did his PhD on Paul Keating, another contender for the position of 'world's worst treasurer'. We've got the National President of the Labor Party, who is also the head of the Cbus super union, connected up with Jim Chalmers, who, by the way, used to be the chief of staff to Wayne Swan.