Jo Lindgren (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Employment, Senator Cash. Will the minister tell the Senate why it is important that workplaces be free from bullying and intimidation?

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! In calling the minister I would advise the minister that because this matter is before the Senate you cannot anticipate debate on this matter.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. As is the long-held position of the coalition government, we believe that everybody in Australia has the right to go to work, every single day, in a workplace that is free from harassment, bullying and intimidation and, in particular, inappropriate behaviour.

A recent example of inappropriate behaviour is, unfortunately, within the construction sector. This is evidenced by the actions of CFMEU official Scott Vink, recently fined $9,000—yet another CFMEU official who has been fined by the courts. This was a fine by the Federal Circuit Court, recently, for unlawful workplace breaches and it was described by the court as 'sheer thuggery'.

The court heard Mr Vink entered the Pacific Fair shopping centre redevelopment site in Queensland, in March 2014, and went to a shed set aside for workers' smoko breaks. What did he do, then? He began removing belongings of non-union members, including lunches from the refrigerator, and just chucking them outside because, apparently, that is what you do when you go onto a work site—he was approached by a site manager and was found by the court to have used 'foul and aggressive language towards employees' and acted in an 'angry and abusive manner' towards those employees—and what he, then, did was place a padlock on the shed, preventing access to non-members.

One of the critical facts that Mr Vink overlooked during this exchange was that the shed on the site had been provided for the use of all the site workers. It was not the property of the CFMEU. The court, basically, said that his behaviour was designed 'to intimidate the employees and to reinforce to others at the building site the notion that non-union membership is not going to be tolerated'.

Jo Lindgren (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Is the minister aware of any other findings of the courts against officials of the CFMEU's Queensland and Northern Territory branch?

Senator Cameron interjecting—

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Unfortunately, yes, I am. The litany of judgements against CFMEU officials continues. Last year the Federal Court found that CFMEU official Kane Pearson took action against a Northern Territory construction company, Reday, with the intent 'to coerce them to pay a fee to the union on behalf of the Reday employees'. The court found that Mr Pearson and other CFMEU officials of the union entered Reday's central apartment project site, in Mitchell Street, Darwin, 'not for the legitimate purpose or the legitimate exercise of their right of entry but to indicate the extent to which the union could disrupt the efficient progress of a building site'.

To pick up on one of the interjections of Senator Cameron, this is about the economy, Senator Cameron, because when you do not have a functioning building and construction sector in Australia all Australians pay more for the buildings that are being constructed.

Jo Lindgren (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Can the minister advise the Senate why it is important that there be appropriate penalties for breaching industrial law?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the issues we have seen, ever since Labor slashed the penalties applicable to breaches of industrial law, is that you break the law—a little bit like a speeding fine—you speed, you get the fine and you pay it. And you just go into a circle: you speed, you get the fine and you pay it. That is what we now see on building sites within Australia.

The CFMEU are fully aware that the penalties no longer fit the crime and they have, quite literally, factored into their business model the penalties for breaching workplace laws. It is a fact that since 2003 the courts have imposed fines of almost $7 million on the CFMEU for proven breaches of workplace laws. Again, this does not seem to deter them. There are 109 officials currently fronting the courts in excess of 1,000 charges. The penalties are, clearly, not strong enough.