Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Employment, Senator Cash. Can the minister explain why it's important to protect whistleblowers in registered organisations?

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

You'd be aware that last year, as part of the government's registered organisations legislation, we introduced significant new protections for whistleblowers in the workplace. Unfortunately, the culture of violence and intimidation in some registered organisations also extends to silencing those who actually call out bad behaviour. This has, unfortunately, been demonstrated on numerous occasions.

A few years ago, in 2014, prior to our legislation being implemented, three officials of the CFMEU in New South Wales stood up and had the guts to call out illegal and corrupt behaviour. They actually put their faces on the ABC's 7.30 program on 16 October 2014. This is what they said:

There have been reports of corruption, association with murderers, association with gangsters, association with terrorists, money being paid to union officials, union officials intimidating other union officials, union officials being forced out of their jobs …

What do you think happened to those men? The head of the CFMEU at the time, Dave Noonan, summoned the officials to an internal star chamber and sacked them. He said he sacked them because what they had done in blowing the whistle on corruption was 'gross misbehaviour'. It gets worse, though. When the concerns were raised with Michael O'Connor, the national head of the CFMEU, what did he do to stand by the workers and protect them? He did absolutely nothing. That is why we brought in the whistleblower protections.

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

Senator Duniam, a supplementary question?

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the minister for her answer. Why is it important for registered organisations to treat whistleblowers appropriately?

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

The appropriate treatment of whistleblowers—whether you are an employer organisation or you are an employee organisation—shows that you wish to comply with the law. The fact that we had instances of whistleblower victimisation, with an organisation sidelining and then sacking officials who had the guts to stand up and blow the whistle and put their faces on national television, shows us all why these whistleblower protections are so necessary. Our legislation, passed with the support of the crossbench, now prohibits victimisation of the kind that we saw at the CFMEU. It also prohibits those responsible for turning a blind eye from doing this. We are committed to standing up for those who have the guts to stand up themselves and call out corruption. (Time expired)

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

Senator Duniam, a final supplementary question?

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the minister aware of any links between these organisations and major political parties?

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

Unfortunately, yes, I am. I often ask myself: why is it that those on the other side say they are anticorruption and that they will stand up for the worker, but, whenever they're presented with the opportunity in this place to do so, they refuse to support sensible legislation? Unfortunately, it comes back to the dollars. It comes back to money. Those on the other side—the Australian Labor Party—have received in excess of $8 million from the CFMEU since 2007.

They pretend to be the friend of the workers. Again they are presented with an opportunity to stand up for those who will call out corruption. It doesn't matter if you're an employer organisation or an employee organisation. If someone stands up and calls out corruption, they should have the protection of the law.