Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

First, obviously, as I said in response to the first question from Senator Cash, the allegations and the footage were abhorrent. I would also make the point—I appreciate you don't agree with this—that appointing an independent administrator to clean up the CFMEU was the strongest action the government could take. The deregistration of the union, as proposed by you and your colleagues, would have allowed those elements to operate without regulation, including on construction sites, including on Commonwealth construction sites.