Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Industry, Senator Ronaldson. I refer the minister to a recent statement by the Hon. Martin Ferguson in Perth:

… the Maritime Union WA Branch is a rogue union … I think they are not only potentially going to kill jobs for their own members, children and grandchildren in the future the way they've conducted themselves.

I think it's about time the rest of the union movement fronted up to the fact that they are now killing jobs in manufacturing.

Can the minister inform the Senate how the actions of the MUA are threatening future investment and jobs in Western Australia's offshore oil and gas industry and what the government's response is to this issue?

Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Back very much for his question and I thank him for his ongoing interest in the great state of Western Australia. The Australian oil and gas industry, of course, is one of our economic powerhouses, and the industry's contribution is set to expand rapidly, because more than $200 billion worth of new projects are under construction now and that will generate more than 100,000 jobs. While it is successful already, the LNG sector has the potential—and I emphasise 'potential'—for a further $180 billion in investment over the next 20 years, creating up to 150,000 jobs.

I say 'potential' because everyone in this chamber knows that competition for global capital is fierce and we must be seen as an attractive destination for investment. We have to be hungry for future jobs and we have to be hungry for future growth. Regrettably, as Senator Back knows, the recent activities of the MUA are particularly short-sighted not only for their own members but for the people of Western Australia. Regrettably, they have been aided and abetted by Senator Pratt and her anti-jobs co-conspirator Senator Ludlam, who continue in this place to stop jobs growth in Western Australia.

I think that Mr Ferguson has belled the cat in relation to this whole issue. What Mr Ferguson has said is that we have to make some changes. The one, of course, who is out on a limb in relation to this matter is Mr Bill Shorten, the opposition leader. Why he will not back a sustainable future for this nation, for the people of Western Australia and for the people he ostensibly represents we simply do not know. We are going to work sensibly and methodically to provide a workplace relations system that encourages investment, growth, productivity and better pay. (Time expired)

Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I refer the minister to a recent decision of the Federal Court in Perth which awarded $684,000 in fines and compensation against the CFMEU, while the union's assistant state secretary, Mr McDonald, was fined $30,000 and banned from Brookfield Multiplex sites until December 2016. Will the minister outline what action the government is taking to ensure the resources and construction industries can invest in WA without fear of industrial disputation?

Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As Senator Back knows, this government is doing what it said it would do, and that is to restore the ABCC. We are going to do what we can to return the rule of law to the building industry and ensure that wrongdoers are held to account wherever they are or whoever they are. What we want to know is: where is Mr Bill Shorten in relation to this matter? Why are Mr Bill Shorten, the Australian Labor Party, Senator Pratt and Senator Ludlam standing behind an organisation, a union, that is just involving and engaging in outright thuggery? The big decision for those opposite is: are you prepared to sit back and let the people of Western Australia continue to suffer from your inaction in relation to this matter? Are you going to say to the people of Western Australia over the next two weeks, 'We are going to condone the behaviour of the CFMEU members; we are going to condone the sort of behaviour that led to those fines'? That behaviour has the potential to destroy— (Time expired)

Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Is the minister aware of recent statements from the union movement itself that the government's royal commission into trade union governance and corruption will help clean up a movement that has been plagued by a string of fraud scandals? Can the minister inform the Senate how industry, especially in Western Australia, will benefit from more transparent and accountable trade unions?

Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I again thank Senator Back most sincerely for that very important question. Isn't it interesting that you have Martin Ferguson, a former darling of those opposite, who has made it quite clear that this royal commission must occur to ensure that we get the thugs out of the building industry? It is very interesting, isn't it, that the secretary of the nurses union, Mark Olson, has also said that this must go ahead. What we are saying to those opposite is: listen to what these sensible people are saying. Do not sit there and allow this industry to be destroyed by inaction and inactivity. Get in there, support our moves to get the ABCC back in, get your people back into work and get the people of Western Australia back into work, because all we are seeing at the moment is inactivity of a union based party, and your behaviour, as I have said before, is an absolute disgrace.