STATEMENTS BY SENATORS
Senator McGRATH (Queensland) (12:45): In some breaking news, but news that won't shock many in this chamber, police raided the CFMEU headquarters in Brisbane this morning, and three people have been arrested in Victoria in a cross-border investigation into corruption. Quite simply, the ALP equals CFMEU equals corruption. We should not forget that the Labor Party accepted millions of dollars in donations from the crime syndicate that is the CFMEU and has not returned a single dollar.
Let's talk about the other side of politics—my side of politics—and what the Crisafulli LNP government is doing to stamp out this corruption. Last August, the Crisafulli government launched a commission of inquiry into the CFMEU to investigate the corruption, misconduct and criminal influence that flourished under the former Labor government in Queensland. The evidence has been so vast that what was supposed to be a 12-month investigation has become a two-year inquiry, and we are still nowhere near the bottom of Labor's CFMEU swamp.
Let's look at what the commission has uncovered so far: a culture of violence and abuse on work sites, including stalking, death threats and harassment. Labor pushed ahead with its Best Practice Industry Conditions policy despite repeated legal warnings. This scheme funnelled contracts to the CFMEU and has cost taxpayers as much as $38 billion.
The CFMEU had a hotline to senior government officials and direct access to Labor ministers, including Jackie Trad and Grace Grace. Labor gave the CFMEU sweetheart deals and favourable treatment in government tender processes. Grace Grace threatened to cancel the $1.6 billion Toowoomba Second Range Crossing unless the consortium reached an agreement with the CFMEU.
Senior female government staff were routinely threatened, stalked and harassed by CFMEU officials. This is just the tip of the iceberg. At every step, Labor enabled, protected and supported the disgusting conduct of the CFMEU.
The standard you walk past is the standard you accept, and Labor ministers and the Labor Party in Queensland set the standard for organised structural corruption. Shame on them. The same can be said of Daniel Andrews, Jacinta Allan and Ben Carroll and their cronies in Victoria, who defended, enabled and promoted the CFMEU's $15 billion Big Build scam in that state.
Not one Labor politician has contested the $15 billion price tag—a price tag of CFMEU corruption. We know why: because the Labor Party accepts money from the criminal cartel that is the CFMEU. Despite the swathes of evidence regarding the CFMEU's disgusting conduct, Labor and Greens senators sit in this chamber and refuse to support Senator Kovacic's Senate inquiry into criminal conduct within the CFMEU.
I commend you, Senator Kovacic, for the work that you've been doing on this issue, and I would suggest that, if Labor and Greens senators are unwilling to support an inquiry into the CFMEU, it means they support the corrupt and criminal conduct of that organisation. And let's not forget that conduct includes violent and intimidatory behaviour directed at women and small children.
Stacey Schinnerl, the Queensland branch secretary of the Australian Workers' Union, gave evidence to the Queensland commission of inquiry that a member of the CFMEU physically pushed her before yelling at her 13-year-old son and calling her an 'F-ing grub'. This type of behaviour is sickening and yet it's the behaviour that Labor and Greens senators in this place allow to perpetuate because they refuse to call it out.
Senator Kovacic has sent out a pledge to all parliamentarians in this place to stand against corruption in construction. I've proudly signed mine and it's displayed in my office window. Again, if Labor and Green parliamentarians are unwilling to sign this pledge, I suggest they don't care about the criminal conduct of the CFMEU.
I'd like to especially shout out to the Labor member for Bennelong. I understand the Labor member for Bennelong is quite fond of pledges. During the Voice campaign, he sent a pledge to representatives and candidates in his local area urging them to publicly pledge their support for the Voice, and made it clear he would publish who had signed and who hadn't.
Curiously, that particular pledge no longer appears on his website. If the member for Bennelong was happy to create and circulate a public pledge on an issue as divisive as the Voice then signing a pledge against union corruption should be easy for him. Australians are in furious agreement that union corruption, intimidation and criminality have no place in our construction industry, so, the ball is in Mr Laxale's court.
If he refuses to sign this pledge against corruption in construction, the only conclusion one can draw is that he supports the disgusting, corrupt and criminal conduct of the CFMEU. Like most Australians, I'm fed up with this terrible Labor government. As a senator for Queensland and the shadow minister for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games, I'm particularly fed up with how Labor are treating Queensland.
In Queensland, the Crisafulli LNP government is busy preparing for the games. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Queenslanders and Queensland because we know that the Olympics won't just deliver on infrastructure; they will deliver on health, education, energy and disaster resilience. But this opportunity comes with challenges and Labor is making it harder.
Reporting this week has exposed the pressure Labor's misguided skilled migration scheme is putting on Queensland's construction industry. Currently, skilled construction workers are ranked in the third of four priority tiers as part of this scheme, and last month Labor made things even worse. They secretly overhauled the system, further disadvantaging skilled construction workers.
Don't take my word for it; the Housing Industry Association, Master Builders and the Civil Contractors Federation have warned of worsening labour shortages, visa bottlenecks, project delays and cost spikes. Where will this be felt the most? In Queensland.
Why? Because, let's not forget that, in 2023, Labor reworked its visa system and created a fast-track pathway for skilled workers but they barred construction workers from the scheme. Why?
Because their mates in the criminal, corrupt CFMEU aggressively pushed back against it so they could keep lining their own pockets. Labor equals CFMEU equals corruption. What has been the result of Labor's subservience to the CFMEU?
A worsening housing crisis, massive labour shortages and projects delivered late and over budget. In Victoria alone, the CFMEU corruption has cost taxpayers at least $15 billion. Remember, not one single Labor politician has contested that figure.
In Queensland, where the Commission of Inquiry into the CFMEU is ongoing, the CFMEU corruption has been estimated to have contributed to almost $21 billion in budget blowouts and project delays. It could reach as high as $38 billion. This isn't the CFMEU's money.
This is not the Labor Party's money. It is taxpayers' money. This corruption has been caused by the softness of the Labor Party and Labor politicians when it comes to dealing with the CFMEU.
It is high time that Labor cast aside all links to the criminal and corrupt CFMEU. It is time that the Labor Party returned the donations that it received from the CFMEU. If they don't want to give it back to the CFMEU, they could give the money to a worthwhile charity.
The Labor Party equals the CFMEU equals corruption. (Time expired)