Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash
Shadow Attorney-General
Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate
Senator for Western Australia
TRANSCRIPT
2SM Radio with Chris Smith
TOPICS: Hamas terrorists, Israeli hostages, CFMEU criminal activity, ABCC, cost of living, energy prices
20 March 2025
E&OE
Chris Smith
Well, I enjoy being challenged. I knew he was going to get stuck into me about his, or my comments on Israel, so I enjoy that, and I welcome and invite any number of people who would like to do that on a daily basis. I thought he would stand up for the Palestinians, and he started to do that and suggested that I wasn’t, until I reminded him that I was critical of the way it wasn’t allowing them refuge, and expressed concern for the innocent, etc, etc. But then he goes into bat for Hamas. Sorry, as far as I’m concerned, any number of Hamas soldiers and the political elite that use the Palestinians as human shields, they should all be terminated, and I’d be very happy to hear that that would occur.
Let’s go to WA Senator Michaelia Cash, right now. Were you listening to Sean’s call, Michaelia?
Senator Cash
I was, and I have to say, I was a little disappointed to say the least, that he was basically defending a terrorist organisation, a listed terrorist organisation that is dedicated to the Islamification of the world and is directly responsible for the deaths that we’re seeing of the Palestinian people. Until Hamas is finished off once and for all Chris, as you rightly pointed out, the Palestinian people will never be free.
Chris Smith
Ever, ever, ever, and they’ve had all so much time to hand over those hostages. They heard what the President of the United States said two and a half weeks ago, they had a cease fire. They could have handed over any number of them, trickled them out, as they usually do, to extend the pain for the families. They had a chance to do that. They refused to take that opportunity.
Senator Cash
I think what is so disturbing about that call, and I understand that this is this gentleman’s opinion, and obviously we respect free speech, but Chris, on what planet do we now live where people calling into your show will actively defend a listed terrorist organisation?
Chris Smith
Hear hear. All right, the CFMEU. I had a call just before the news from someone who was talking about the fact that the government, at the moment, don’t want to move on the CFMEU, because they are the biggest donors, and I made the point that they were running a protection racket for the CFMEU. But the government awarded $5.5 million to the CFMEU, an elite company, to fund the ‘women in construction’ project, to supposedly support women to be trained and retained in skilled roles and eliminate structural and cultural barriers to gender equity. From what I saw on 60 Minutes on Sunday night, that is a joke.
Senator Cash
Well, what a complete joke. What is worse is, it is a disgrace that Prime Minister Albanese has now remained silent for four days on the sickening treatment of women by CFMEU members. I mean, just to remind your listeners – what we saw over the weekend on 60 Minutes, horrific images displayed, a bikie-linked health and safety representative violently bashing a woman during his lunch break, another woman locked in a small room on a building project, text messages asking for nude photos, and then Mr. Albanese remains silent. But then what’s worse is, we now find out that not only is he silent, his government is continuing to provide taxpayer money to them under the guise of grants. And you know what Murray Watt said, you’re going to love this. ‘There’s nothing to see here, because the CFMEU is not directly receiving the grant money. It’s Incolink.’ Let me tell you about Incolink. Incolink is run by the CFMEU and has been for several years. It is a complete, total and utter joke. Chris, can you imagine if a big business or employer had that kind of treatment of women in the workplace? It would be national outrage for days. People would be demanding resignations. But when it’s a donor to the Labor Party, there is silence from the Prime Minister. But what is worse, there is then justification from the relevant minister. The taxpayers’ money going to the CFMEU and Incolink.
Chris Smith
And they’ve allowed to get, been allowed to get away with this, because the government abolished the Australian Building and Construction Commission.
Senator Cash
Absolutely.
Chris Smith
And of course they get, in the last two and a half years, almost three years now, they get $11.5 million from the CFMEU.
Senator Cash
And that is why, as you know, we have now announced enough is enough. You’ve got to deregister the CFMEU once and for all, and on top of that, you officially ban, by legislation, any member who has been involved in lawbreaking from going anywhere near a union or a work site ever again. But at the same time, let’s be honest here, Chris. This is about organised crime infiltrating the CFMEU and at taxpayers’ expense now running the construction industry throughout Australia. And when we say taxpayers’ expense, taxpayers need to understand, you have now for years and years and years because of the Labor Party’s protection racket, paid 30% more for your publicly funded infrastructure. So, Peter and I and James Paterson have said, you’ve now actually got to smash the organised crime business model in Australia. And if we are given the honour of being elected to government, we will actually blow their business model open, and we will bring in mafia-style takedown laws similar to what they have in the United States. Enough is enough. This is all about the Australian taxpayer paying more. But worse than that, the Australian Labor Party, who currently run this country, running a protection racket for the CFMEU and, quite frankly, organised crime in Australia. It is a disgrace.
Chris Smith
It is a disgrace, total and utter disgrace. You’re so right. It’s a protection racket, and you can see it. I want to talk about the construction industry once more. It’s been revealed that the tradie salaries are more than $250,000 a year. Are one of the biggest factors in fuelling the housing crisis with developers unable to afford the cost of building? But how do you fix that if you don’t have enough builders, this is why they’ve got high salaries, isn’t it?
Senator Cash
This is just it. So most small business tradies, as you know, don’t earn anywhere near that amount. The problem is, most are dealing with a cost-of-living crisis, as running a small business under the Albanese government has become increasingly more difficult. So, they have the higher energy costs, they have the higher insurance costs, they have a higher cost of material. So, they are suffering from the cost-of-living crisis too, and they then have no alternative than to pass their costs on. But Chris, as you and I know, their costs are always going to be higher because of the Albanese government’s skill shortage. Labour shortages are currently the biggest source of pressure in construction. If you don’t have enough trainees, the cost of getting one is going to be higher. And the reality is, these are statistics. This is not me talking as a Liberal. These are the actual statistics over Labor’s first year in office. So, June 2022, to June 2023, skill shortages increased by 12.5%. The latest data says 33% of all occupations are in shortage. What is worse is we now have 80,000 fewer apprentices and trainees in the training pipeline. So I’m not going to blame the tradies, but I am going to blame Mr. Albanese, his cost-of-living crisis, but also, despite all of their rhetoric and talk, because they love to tell Australians they’re doing something, the statistics and the facts show that under Mr. Albanese, you are paying more for a tradie because of the skill shortage this government has created.
Chris Smith
Correct, it’s just supply and demand. A mate of mine in Newcastle was trying to get a plumber the other day, and he was in the line of about 10 other customers who were all bidding for the plumber’s focus on a Saturday, and they – [inaudible]
Senator Cash
You can blame the government, who has actually made the policy decisions, or, should we say, not made the policy decisions to actually deal with a) the cost-of-living crisis, but b) the shortage of skilled labour that they themselves have created.
Chris Smith
And this is supposed to be their forte anyway. Now the deportation of criminal dual citizens. Peter Dutton is wanting to have a referendum on this. You’ve been accused of contradicting him. Where did you get your wires crossed?
Senator Cash
We didn’t. We are 110% on the same page. And Peter and I have both been very clear. Our reality as a country in 2025 is this. We’ve got people here in Australia who, quite frankly, hate our country and they want to cause terrorist attacks. We believe that we would never have granted citizenship if we knew they were going to undertake, for example, a terrorist act. They have pledged allegiance to our country. They have been broken it in such an egregious way that, quite frankly, they should expect their citizenship to be stripped.
Chris Smith
Even someone who has been here 30 years?
Senator Cash
If you are committing a terrorist act, quite frankly, you should not expect to remain in Australia. But what Peter and I have said is this, at this point in time, there are no plans to hold a referendum, but what we have said, as a responsible government who will be committed to keeping Australia and Australians safe, you need to have all options on the table. We believe it’s a debate that Australians and our country are mature enough to have. At the end of the day, if you hate our country, if you are going to cause a terrorist attack, or alternatively, quite frankly, if you are someone who is involved in child paedophilia, then we need to leave all options on the table in terms of how we remove you.
Chris Smith
Okay, it’ll be interesting to see whether that gains any traction during the election campaign. Can I just say that I am convinced that power is the number one issue, and if it’s not the number one issue for voters, they’re not watching what’s about to happen. We are going down this horrible path, Michaelia Cash, where we will have a blackout future under what this Chris Bowen character is doing to the country.
Senator Cash
Look, absolutely. I mean, you have to have a look. The next government, if it is a Labor government, is going to be reliant on the Greens and the Teals. That will put our economic recovery at risk. Under Labor, it is a fact that Australians are now paying more for their energy. Businesses in Australia are going insolvent because they cannot afford to operate, and one of the great costs is energy under this government and their energy policy. It is reckless, but what is worse is that it is costing Australians and businesses. And Australians need to understand it is not a re-elected Albanese government. It is a re-elected Albanese government relying on the Teals and the Greens. That can only make things worse.
Chris Smith
That will turbocharge all of those policies.
Senator Cash
This is just it. So, you have an energy crisis in Australia. You’ve got power bills skyrocketing. You’ve got the Albanese government failing to deliver a single dollar of its promised $275 cut, and that was 97 times, if you recall. Instead, what you have is around a $1,300 hike that flows right through the economy. But the irony of Chris Bowen and Mr. Albanese’s approach is this – emissions are flatlining, and that means Labor is well off track to meet a 43% reduction target. So, you have renewables stalling, you’ve got independent analysis forecasting that even under the most optimistic scenario, there’ll be a significant shortfall of Labor’s 82% target. I mean, this is a pipe dream. It is an ideological obsession, and it’s at the expense of Mum and Dad Australia, of businesses, but in particular, of small businesses. 27,000 of them have gone insolvent under Mr. Albanese, and all they say is, ‘oh well’.
Chris Smith
We should not put the future prosperity of the country in the hands of Chris from Wetherill Park, I’m telling you. Michaelia Cash, great to have you on the program. Thank you.
Senator Cash
Great to be with you.
Recent Comments