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
6PR Perth Radio with Oliver Peterson
TOPICS: CFMEU, organised crime, violence, proposed new laws
18 March 2025
E&OE
Oliver Peterson
You would have seen on Sunday night that 60 Minutes story covering new allegations of intimidation, corruption and violence against women throughout the Victorian construction sector of the CFMEU. Now these continues to mean calls for the Union to be deregistered. And during the story on 60 Minutes, it was alleged that over 100 members of the CFMEU were receiving direct payments from taxpayer dollars through intimidation and corruption. Now the Coalition is vowing to introduce new laws that would allow bosses of organizations engaged in that pattern of illegal activity to be charged as a part of a suite of measures aimed at stamping out union corruption. To tell you more is Senator Michaelia Cash, who joins me on 6PR today, welcome back to the program.
Senator Cash
Great to be with you. Ollie.
Oliver Peterson
Is what you saw on Sunday night on 60 Minutes just the tip of the iceberg?
Senator Cash
Look not much shocks me any more about the conduct of some members of the militant CFMEU, but what we saw on our TV screens over the weekend, I mean, a bikie linked health and safety representative, violently bashing a woman during his lunch break on a government funded infrastructure project. That actually made me sick to my stomach. But Australians need to understand that under the Albanese Government, we now have a situation where hundreds of bikers and criminals have been earning up to $10,000 a week – get this Ollie – for jobs they weren’t actually doing. You have construction firms in Australia being intimidated into making suspect and often recurring payments of up to $600,000 to gangland figures. And as we have said time and time again enough is now enough. We need to deal with this cancer once and for all. And why do we need to do that? Because ultimately, at the end of the day, it’s mum and dad Australia who are paying the price for the militant CFMEU’s behaviour on construction sites. More for their hospitals, more for their roads, more for their schools. And ultimately, the CFMEU’s behaviour is driving up the cost of residential and commercial housing in Australia. Enough is enough.
Oliver Peterson
So what laws would you introduce to tackle this behaviour and to try and hold these thugs to account.
Senator Cash
You know, as your listeners would know, the CFMEU links with organized crime now – I mean, can you believe we’re even saying it – the CFMEU’s links in Australia with organized crime confirmed that urgent action is required, and we have said we will take the toughest possible action under Peter Dutton. You have to break open the business model of organized crime in Australia. So one of the things that we will do is we’re going to introduce the highly effective – similar to mafia takedown laws in the US. So that will allow police to target groups that engage in a pattern of criminal behaviour. In other words, the bosses and the kingpins of the groups, the people who don’t necessarily get their hands dirty Ollie such as outlaw motorcycle gangs, can be jailed even if they distance themselves from the crimes their organizations commit. Enough is enough. Australians should not have to tolerate organized crime, basically running construction sites in this country, and I can tell you, under Peter Dutton, we will break open their business model.
Oliver Peterson
Murray Watts, the Minister for Workplace Relations, said he has now referred this to the Australian Federal Police and I believe he describes your plans here as reckless Senator.
Senator Cash
Well. Murray Watt, I would expect nothing less from him. Murray Watt has been one of the biggest apologists for the CFMEU for his entire time in the Parliament. The legislation that we attempted to bring in under the former Coalition Government to clean up the CFMEU – guess what – they opposed it every single step of the way. These guys under Albanese have accepted – the Labor Party that is – $11.5 million either in direct donations or election campaign support. So let’s be clear here the Australian Labor Party have a lot to lose by cleaning up the construction sector in Australia. If anything is clear from this sorry state of lawlessness in the construction industry, one measure is not enough, Ollie, and that is why the problem’s are so ingrained. The protections run so deep that a multi pronged approach is necessary, and that is the approach that Peter Dutton will take.
Oliver Peterson
Speaking of Peter Dutton, he wants to hold the referendum to give the government new powers to deport the dual citizen criminals. Do you support a referendum? Do we want to do that again, Senator Cash.
Senator Cash
well, let’s be very clear with what this is actually about. We have made it clear, the Coalition under Peter Dutton is prepared to keep all options on the table when it comes to protecting Australia and keeping Australians safe. Peter has made it clear, we live in a great country. There are millions of people all around the world who want to come here, and our focus should be on those who come here seeking to contribute and make our nation better. But our reality is this, Ollie – at the moment, we’ve got people in our country who, quite frankly, hate our country and they want to cause terrorist attacks. And our argument is this, if you betray your allegiance to the great country of Australia in that way, you should expect to lose your citizenship. I mean, we’d never grant somebody citizenship if we knew they were going to undertake a terrorist act and someone who signs the Pledge of Allegiance to our country and then breaks it in such an egregious way – quite frankly, they should expect that their citizenship is stripped.
Oliver Peterson
We don’t have the laws in place to be able to do that at the moment. But to do that, you need to hold the referendum. I just ask you again, Senator Cash, we went to a referendum on the Voice – do you think there’s an appetite for Australians to actually have to go and cast a yes or no on a referendum.
Senator Cash
I think the first duty of every government, as Australians would acknowledge, is national security, and particularly at this point in time, when you see the social unrest across Australia, there should be no place here for those who put our communities at risk. As we have said, we have no plans to hold a referendum at this stage, but we would consider the option if necessary. If it gets to the point where it is necessary to consider amending our constitution to keep Australians safe, then yes, we believe that’s a debate Australians and our country are mature enough to have. In other words, what we want now is a discussion about whether or not in Australia we’ve got adequate laws, whether our constitution is restrictive in this regard, and ultimately, what Peter wants to do is keep our country safe and our community safe. Because I would have said on any analysis, that is where Anthony Albanese has fundamentally failed Australians. Peter is not going to fail Australians. He is going to do everything in his power to keep them safe.
Oliver Peterson
Is this off the back of Donald Trump being able to deport hundreds of immigrants?
Senator Cash No, absolutely not. I mean, you recall that under Tony Abbott and John Howard, we made it very, very clear that as a country, we should determine who comes here and the terms upon which they come. What we have seen since October 7 in 2023 is some of the greatest social unrest our country has ever seen. We now have people in our country, Ollie, who have dual citizenship, who hate our country and who want to cause terrorist attacks, or alternatively, they are someone who was involved in child pedophilia. For argument’s sake, those people have no right, quite frankly, to expect that they should be able to keep their citizenship. So they are the types of people we are talking about. We will make our own decisions. Peter Dutton is very clear though – under his government. We are prepared to keep all options on the table when it comes to protecting our great country, and keeping Australians safe, and we make no apology for that. If Mr. Albanese wants to argue otherwise well shame on you, Mr. Albanese.
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