Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present additional information received by the Education And Employment References Committee on its inquiries into the Australian Building and Construction Commission and in the provisions of the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment Bill 2013.

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate take note of the documents.

The contributions from Labor and Green senators on the ABCC show that the Labor-Greens alliance is desperate to prevent has any cost the restoration of law and order to the building industry so that they can continue their protection racket for unions, such as the CFMEU. This position has been untenable for a number of years. However, in the light of the most recent evidence of corruption and thuggery involving the CFMEU, it is not only untenable; it is downright shameful.

Just this week the Heydon royal commission detailed evidence of kickbacks to CFMEU of $2,500 per week made by companies run by the reported crime figure George Alex. A number of witnesses gave evidence of these transactions, understood to be kickbacks to the CFMEU, for allowing Mr Alex's companies onto various building sites, despite their appalling record of safety breaches and unpaid employee entitlements.

Evidence was also given that senior CFMEU officials Brian Parker and Darren Greenfield were seen at Mr Alex's house. Presumably they were not there for tea and scones. One witness to the royal commission revealed that he had been bashed in prison last Friday and his family threatened because he had been called to give evidence that may be damaging to some of the CFMEU's more dubious associates. Other individuals may have been able to give evidence on this matter, but they were not available for various reasons. One of them, Joe Anton, Mr Alex's enforcer, was recently shot dead. Another close associate of Mr Alex involved in this scandal, Khaled Sharrouf, is currently in the Middle East taking photos of severed heads with his young son. These are the sorts of people who have infiltrated the building industry and this is the sort of company the CFMEU now keeps. On the basis of various revelations this year it now appears that there is only one degree of separation between the CFMEU and organised crime figures, a murdered standover man, bikie gang and forces, and a jihadist executioner.

This week in the royal commission we saw video evidence of the CFMEU official physically confronting and threatening a Fair Work Building and Construction inspector on an Adelaide building site, using language that I cannot repeat here. We saw further evidence of repeated intimidation of Fair Work Building and Construction officials at the Barangaroo site. A report in The Australian yesterday of this incident said:

… a series of Fair Work building inspectors told of thuggish treatment they received from officials of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union when they were called to investigate reports of unlawful industrial action.

Further:

The inspectors told how they were branded a “[expletive] dog”, a “[expletive] grub” and “lower than a pedophile” during visits to Sydney’s Barangaroo casino hotel construction site in July this year.

The report goes on to say how one female building inspector was abused in disgustingly sexist language that I will not repeat here. The report says:

She said she felt intimidated, fearing for her safety as CFMEU officials and 40 building workers surrounded her and a colleague.

What has the CFMEU had to say about these revelations of blatant thuggery, workplace bullying and breaches of rights at work? CFMEU boss Dave Noonan issued a media release on 2 September in response to this evidence and sought to excuse such conduct by asserting that 'swearing on building sites is nothing new.' We have seen intimidation of Commonwealth officials, threats of violence and sexist abuse and harassment of female workers and all Mr Noonan has to say is 'swearing on building sites is nothing new'.

Where is the outrage by the rest of the union movement, which supposedly cares for the rights of workers? Where is the feminist sisterhood? Why aren't they denouncing Mr Noonan's failure to act on this genuinely sexist and misogynist behaviour by his own officials? Julia Gillard, Ged Kearney, Anne Summers—where are you? We cannot hear you.

In this environment very few Australian companies have had the courage to stand up to the sick underworld culture of the CFMEU. On corporate leader who has is Mike Cane, the head of Boral. In a speech today Mr Cane asked a very important question:

When will the self-respecting unions in this country who do a fair job for their members and don’t engage in this perverse distortion of the principles of unionism—speak out and disassociate themselves from this unlawful mob?

I think that is an extremely good question. More importantly, we should also ask: when will the Australian Labor Party finally discover some semblance of moral principle and do the same?

The current attitude of the CFMEU harks back to the worst days of the BLF, which remains notorious in my home state of Victoria. However, the close collaboration with organised crime now makes the modern CFMEU far more dangerous than the BLF was at its worst. Never before has this union been so brazen and never before has the Labor Party been so craven. Consider the reasons why the Labor Party opposes stronger workplace laws in the building industry. Since 2000, the CFMEU has been fined over $5 million for breaches of various laws. In the same period, the CFMEU has donated over $9 million to the ALP.

The worst example of Labor's cowardice has been displayed by the Victorian Labor leader, Daniel—or it could be 'Dan' these days—Andrews, who welcomed his favourite union into his own socialist left faction in 2012 and then gave its leaders, John Setka and Shaun Reardon, centre stage at the party's 2013 Victorian state conference. This was the same conference which Mr Andrews was too embarrassed to invite the then Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, to address. Only nine days later, Shaun Reardon was seen marching at the head of a CFMEU protest rally in Melbourne next to the sergeant-at-arms of the Comancheros bikie gang. This particular individual was wearing a CFMEU jacket over his Comancheros T-shirt, which really does symbolise how close these two organisations now seem to be.

Once upon a time, we had Labor leaders with courage and moral clarity such as Bob Hawke and John Cain, who had the decency to take a stand against thuggery and criminality by a rogue union by acting to deregister the BLF. John Cain himself vowed he would 'remove this rogue organisation' from the Victorian industrial scene. In contrast, Daniel Andrews, who seeks to emulate John Cain by becoming Premier of Victoria, plans to give a rogue union control of every building site in Victoria and, more frighteningly, control over a future state Labor government.

After all of the contentious revelations of CFMEU extortion, thuggery and lawlessness, surely it is time for Labor to say enough is enough. It must end its protection racket for the CFMEU, it must support the reintroduction of the ABCC and it must have the guts to finally disassociate itself from this rogue and thoroughly corrupt organisation.

Question agreed to.