Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Attorney-General, Senator Brandis. Can the Attorney-General please inform the Senate of the advantages that a royal commission has over a police task force investigation into alleged trade union corruption?

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Kroger for the question. I imagine that the honourable senator has in mind the very surprising remarks of the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Shorten, on Sunday that there ought to be a police task force into trade union corruption but that there should not be a royal commission.

Those remarks were very surprising for a number of reasons—first of all, because, on the very day that the News Limited papers foreshadowed that an announcement might be made the following day, all of a sudden, for the first time, Mr Shorten discovered that there might be a problem with trade union corruption!

David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Oops!

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Oops! So he decided he might try and get in first and say, 'Let us have a police task force, not a royal commission.' Of course, Senator Kroger, as you would know, a royal commission is the very best mechanism for shining the light on widespread, systemic and ingrained illegality across a range of institutions. The police—

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Give us some more adjectives!

Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wonder if he's got his bookshelves yet?

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! On my left! Senator Brandis is entitled to be heard in silence.

Government senators interjecting—

Order! On my right!

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The police might, of course, investigate individual cases, but a royal commission is established for the very purpose of investigating a culture of corruption. It is not, by the way, an either/or—

Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Like the Petrov royal commission!

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Like the Petrov royal commission, I hear Senator Mason say! Of course, it is not an either/or proposition because royal commissions have worked with police task forces and had police investigative agents seconded to them, like the royal commission into institutional child abuse and like the Fitzgerald commission in Queensland, that you will remember from many years ago, Mr President, and, as Senator Mason says, like the Petrov royal commission half a century ago.

So this is the way to attack the problem, and for Mr Shorten— (Time expired)

Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the minister for that answer and I ask a supplementary question. Will honest trade unionists be able to provide evidence of slush funds, kickbacks, standover tactics and other alleged unlawful activities involving trade unions to the proposed royal commission into trade union governance and corruption?

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, indeed they will. In fact, this royal commission has been established for their benefit—to protect them from the trade union bosses and trade union criminals who misuse their positions to fleece honest trade union members.

The government is in discussions to establish the royal commission at the moment, and among the arrangements that it will have is an inquiry line by which members who have information about corruption and other misconduct referred to in the terms of reference will be able to provide information in confidence to the royal commission. In appropriate cases, they will also be able to provide information in camera.

Now, might I remind those who might be minded to interfere with the work of the royal commission that they do so at risk of committing criminal offences under the Royal Commissions Act.

Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Is the Attorney-General aware of any impediments to the proposed royal commission's capacity to expose corruption, fraud and other alleged criminal conduct in the trade union movement?

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, I am. One of those impediments comes from Labor politicians placed in this parliament by those self-same trade union bosses, who speak weasel words and cry crocodile tears about the need for zero tolerance of corruption in the trade union movement. Yet, by their very acts in this parliament, they do everything in their power to prevent that corruption being exposed.

They are people like the former CFMEU official Senator Wong, in her speech to the chamber yesterday, when she said that the Labor Party would have no truck with those involved in corruption and then moved to prevent the chamber from debating the reintroduction of the Building and Construction Commission. They are people like Senator Stephen Conroy, the former Transport Workers' Union official, who said there should be zero tolerance and yet by his every step and every utterance he tries to prevent the investigation. (Time expired)