QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator WONG (South Australia—Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:00): I can certainly indicate, in terms of expulsion, that Mr Setka has been expelled from the Australian Labor Party, and that occurred some years ago, and there is no five-year rule on that. In relation to what you have indicated, certainly what I would say is we cannot tolerate corruption, criminality or violence in any part of the construction industry.

I've said before in this chamber that the government has taken concrete action to clean up the industry. I have also made the point that the Albanese government has taken concrete action to do this, and, in fact, the administrator has achieved more progress towards cleaning up the union than we saw in a decade. Multiple investigations are ongoing into the construction sector, following multiple referrals from police and regulators.

In relation to any additional requirement of membership, obviously, the government will always consider carefully the advice of the administrator on these issues. We are committed to ensuring that corruption, criminality and violence are not part of the construction industry. I would also say, as strong trade unionists, we also believe that there is—we have no tolerance for criminality or corruption in any trade union.

The PRESIDENT: Senator Hume, first supplementary?