Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash
Shadow Attorney-General
Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate
Senator for Western Australia
TRANSCRIPT
6PR Perth – Drive with Oliver Peterson
21 August 2024
TOPICS: CFMEU legislation, Albanese live export joke
E&OE
Oliver Peterson
This week you’ve supported the Government’s CFMEU administration legislation. What changed for you to support it.
Senator Cash
Well, we have always said, in the first instance, the Albanese government should never have abolished the Australian Building and Construction Commission. We told them what the impact would be. And guess what? I hate to say it, but we were right. So we have always been for tough action on the CFMEU and cleaning up the building and construction industry in Australia. But the bill that was tabled last Monday, Ollie, quite frankly, by Murray Watt, the minister, I actually thought it had been drafted by John Setka. You could have driven a truck through it. So we took our time to properly scrutinize the bill, and we secured some substantial amendments, which was why we were prepared to put the bill through earlier this week. But I’ve also made it clear Ollie the Albanese government might think that appointing an administrator to run this union will magically clean up the building and construction industry in Australia. They’re living in fantasyland. This is just the first step. They also need to restore the Australian Building and Construction Commission, the tough cop on the beat that was actually effective, but also support the coalition’s integrity measures that will combat the criminality that is now running rife on building sites in Australia.
Oliver Peterson
If the ABCC was still in place would this have been picked up a lot earlier?
Senator Cash
Well, you see, this is the joke on Labor they’ve known for decades. I, for years, raised this behavior in the Parliament. I was going through the Hansard and looking at the terrible things that I had to raise in the Parliament. But Labor fought us every single step of the way. And you know why? Since 2007 the unions in this country have donated approximately $100 million to the Australian Labor Party. The CFMEU itself, since Mr. Albanese became the opposition leader, $6.2 million. The CFMEU send Senators to Canberra. I mean, the Labor Party have not just condoned, they have facilitated this behavior. And there’s a price tag to it, as I said, since 2007 $100 million to the Australian Labor Party from the unions in this country and from the CFMEU, since Mr. Albanese became the opposition leader, $6.2 million. They have been doing the bidding of their paymaster, but Ollie at the expense of the Australian taxpayer, who’s paid more for their construction costs.
Oliver Peterson
You’ve moved a bill on the integrity measures today. What are you suggesting?
Senator Cash
One of the things that is missing is the ability for the court to actually get rid of, once and for all, rogue officials. Now I don’t care if that’s a rogue official in an employer organization or a rogue official in a union organization. If you break the law, you need to be automatically disqualified from holding office within any registered organization, and that is what this bill will do. But what it also does is says you also can’t act in a shadow capacity, which means that would also be a criminal offense. You’ve actually got to get rid of these people once and for all, Ollie from the union, and you can only do that by toughening up the law. But you also need, as I said, you need the tough cop on the beat. I mean, the stakeholders are calling for the restoration of the strong cop on the beat. They’re backing the enhanced integrity measures to combat the criminality, and this is a test for Mr. Albanese. Are you merely setting and forgetting the administrator, which is now going to be challenged in the High Court, or are you dinkum in taking action? And if you are dinkum, you’ll put these two bills through the parliament in September when we return. And if you’re not, quite frankly, you’re working to your paymasters the CFMEU.
Oliver Peterson
Zach Smith, the national secretary of the CFMEU is not ruling out a High Court challenge to the laws
Senator Cash
Oh, well, look, let’s have a look at what the CFMEU have been doing for years, because quite frankly, that is an affront to the rule of law and democracy, and it’s an affront to every single Australian who’s paid more for their construction costs because of the actions of the CFMEU. I mean, this is now a union that has seen an industry infiltrated by bikies, gangland figures. It’s plagued with corruption, bullying, intimidation, thuggery. I think Zach Smith, quite frankly, needs to look at his own Union’s behavior before he comments on the fact that we need to clean this up in the best interests of all Australians. I mean, we are talking MBA, the master builders of association, they have estimated, for years now, that Australians are paying around 30% more for their roads, for their schools, for their housing, for their hospitals. Ollie because of the actions of the CFMEU, 30 per cent more. Can you imagine the roads, the hospitals, the schools, the housing we could have delivered if we actually had a clean industry. But again, I lay this squarely at the feet of the Australian Labor Party, who have facilitated, condoned and turned their back deliberately on this behavior for years.
Oliver Peterson
Is the CFMEU in WA immune from this?
Senator Cash
Absolutely not, absolutely not. And the royal commissions show this. Read the Hayden Royal Commission, read the Cole Royal Commission. The findings are there. Now, what Labor and the CFMEU will say is this, people don’t come forward, there’s no evidence. Well, I don’t know. Ollie, you tell me if you’re a small builder in WA and you were working in an industry where you were bullied, intimidated, threatened, had to deal with thugs on a daily basis. You knew it had been infiltrated by bikies and gangland figures. You knew they could take action against you and destroy you. I mean, do Labor honestly think these people are going to come forward? You have to be kidding me. So the answer is yes. It is rife across the CFMEU. Labor didn’t want to put the ACT and WA into administration. We said: You’ve got to be kidding. And the whole union is now in administration. We also negotiated for a minimum of three years. Because, let’s face it, organized crime and bikies – they’re smarter than Murray Watt and Labor.
Oliver Peterson
One last thing. What did you make of the Prime Minister’s unscripted joke about live exports at the Rural Women’s Awards?
Senator Cash
Oh, Ollie, geez. I don’t even know what to say. I am so offended on behalf of Western Australians, quite frankly. I mean extremely poor taste by the Prime Minister. It shows though, he holds Western Australia and our live export trade in complete contempt. I think it is just an absolute disgrace, he keeps on standing up and telling the West Australian newspaper and Western Australians, I understand you. Mate, you don’t. You’ve shut down the live sheep export industry. You have destroyed 1000s of lives. But not only that, you then joke about it. You make our farmers the butt of your jokes. It is a disgrace, and quite frankly, it should be the proof that Western Australians need to realize that he holds our farmers, Western Australia and Western Australians in contempt.
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