Thursday, 30 October 2025

E&OE

Tim Wilson MP

Well, good morning, everybody. Once again, we have another day of unanswered questions from the Albanese Government about the corruption within the CFMEU and the complete and utter failure to have an inquiry into the administration process, which is leading and the administration’s continuing to tolerate corruption within the CFMEU. We have a minister who is refusing to answer questions. We wrote to the minister and the administrator, now two weeks ago, asking a series of questions about what they knew, when they knew, and what questions they've asked in association with meetings with Mick Gatto, meetings with John Setka and with Zach Smith from the CFMEU head in Victoria. At every point the minister has obfuscated and refused to answer questions. She has not responded, nor has the administrator. And that's the reason the Coalition has put forward a inquiry process to the Senate, because we believe so strongly that we need proper accountability, we need proper scrutiny into the CFMEU administration process to make sure that Australians can have confidence in the oversight of the CFMEU and to stop the corruption that is leading to the cost of new homes going up that is leading to increased costs on taxpayers, on projects, public projects, and is increasing costs for every Australian. But more than that, what we need to know is just how deep is the role of Zach Smith in this government itself. We know the Prime Minister relies on Zach Smith's vote in the national executive of the Australian Labor Party, but he also sits on Minister Rishworth’s National Construction Industry Forum. They've had two meetings. The first one, Mr. Smith turned up to and sat next to the minister and was advising the minister as part of the CFMEU. Last meeting after the CFMEU corruption issues were exposed, Mr. Smith apologised, lest the minister be associated directly with it, but she has kept him on as a member of her forum and continues to advise the minister as a member of her forum. A meeting is forthcoming and it's time Minister Rishworth told us whether she's booting Zach Smith off the forum or she's going to keep him as a minister and a key advisor to her role as part of industrial relations in this country. It's time for Minister Rishworth to come out of her crisis bunker, answer questions, be held accountable and tell the Australian people, what's her relationship with Zach Smith? What's the Prime Minister's relationship with Zach Smith where he acts as both a key advisor but also a member of the national executive, where the Prime Minister relies on his votes and his deep connection to all of the issues associated with the CFMEU. Yesterday, the Coalition put forward an inquiry motion to the Senate. There was a debate yesterday, and I'll allow Senator Kovacic to go through all of those issues and what happened within that debate. It didn't go through, though, to a vote, today it's going to come up to a vote, and it is going to be a moment where the Greens and the crossbenchers are going to have to stand up and decide, are they going to stand by corruption, or are they going to have an inquiry support, an inquiry process into the CFMEU administration and make sure there's accountability? Or are they going to simply side with the government and run interference, in favour of those who are engaged in corrupt conduct? Senator Kovacic?

Senator Maria Kovacic

Thank you. There are so many important questions here, and I think probably one of the first ones is where is Minister Rishworth? Why isn't she fronting up and some questions about what is going on here? Why hasn't she told us why she is blocking this Senate inquiry, and why the government will not support scrutiny into the administration of the CFMEU? And they lead into the points that Tim has already made in relation to Mr. Zach Smith - still sitting on the national executive of the Labor Party at the behest of the Prime Minister. And now we also understand Mr. Zach Smith is sitting on the National Construction Industry Forum at the behest of Minister Rishworth. So we need to be asking, how much influence does this man have? And that is something that we can find out from the Senate inquiry, because clearly, the conduct that we have seen, the conduct that journalists in the Australian media have uncovered, have not been enough for the Prime Minister and for Minister Rishworth to act. Let me repeat that. Mr. Smith still sits on the national executive of the Australian Labor Party, despite everything that has now been uncovered, and Mr. Smith still sits on the National Construction Industry Forum, despite everything that we have uncovered. And Minister Rishworth is missing in action on this topic. She has said nothing about it. Why do we need a Senate inquiry? This administration came out of a parliamentary, legislative act. It came out of the House and the Senate. So we now must scrutinise it when we can see that it is not doing what it is meant to be doing. Clearly, the administrator is not being properly being accountable to the minister, or the minister is not holding the administrator properly accountable. Something is wrong, and the only way we will find out is through a Senate inquiry. During the debate yesterday, we only had one speaker from the government opposing this inquiry, despite the fact that it is our expectation that they will vote against an inquiry. And only two topics were covered of substance. Number one, that this was an ideological hunt by the coalition. And number two, that so many corrupt or individuals who had displayed corrupt and criminal conduct had already been let go. I think some 60 were numbered. But that's not what we're talking about. We are talking about events that have occurred after the administration began. We're not talking about things before. We're talking about after. We are talking about since the administrator came in and a great deal of evidence was uncovered, not just in the Senate estimates, but by the Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes and one of the other comments yesterday from one of the government ministers in question time was - oh, we don't have time to be sitting around watching the telly. Well, I can tell you now, if your minister isn't acting and if your minister is not holding the CFMEU and the CFMEU administrator to account, well then the Coalition and the Australian media will hold you to account. In relation to an ideological hunt, this has nothing to do with it. In my speech yesterday in the Senate, I talked about the rank-and-file CFMEU workers that deserve better, much better from their union. These are individuals that year on year have worked their guts out and paid their dues to a union that has let them down. And the Australian Labor Party, who are meant to be the party of the Australian Worker and of the Australian Union, are taking them all for a ride.

Journalist

So, with the Senate inquiry, obviously you will want to be looking into Zach Smith’s role in the whole system and Labor in particular, is there any other outcome that you’re seeking from this? Last year, of course, there were talks about de-registering the union when the first allegations were made. Is that still on the table?

Senator Maria Kovacic

In terms of what we want with the Senate inquiry, is to actually enable submissions and witnesses to come forward and share their experiences with us. I wouldn't want to pre-empt any outcome, because the best way that these things operate like is when there is an open forum for those discussions. What we want to know is what is actually going on. Is there active measures being taken place to cut out the corrupt and criminal conduct, or is this effectively a sham administration that is allowing the old CFMEU to be operating under the guise of this administration?

Tim Wilson MP

And if I could just add, public confidence in the CFMEU administration has collapsed. The point of the Senate inquiry is to understand precisely what it is that has happened, and then what is going to be required to rebuild public confidence of oversight and make sure there's proper accountability. There will be a range of measures, but we need the evidence on the table, and we need to understand why this process has failed so spectacularly, because what we know, based on the evidence from whistleblowers, is that under the administration, key people have been put into positions, who have later been sacked on allegations of corruption by the administration. This, to me, doesn't say that the process is cleaning it up. What it says is there's a fundamental, deeper problem of corruption within the CFMEU. We know the tentacles go further, where we have the administration seemingly approving meetings between, Zach Smith and people like John Setka, who were responsible for kicking off this process, and other meetings with other figures like Mick Gatto. We need to be realistic about it. This is a long, challenging process. We need measures that are going to be sustained and address the deep cultural and systemic problems within the CFMEU. But sunlight is going to be the best friend of this process. That's why this inquiry is so important to get to the bottom of it.

Journalist

Do you think that Jack Smith can continue to sit on executives, at the table while this inquiry goes on, or are you calling for him to stand down or be suspended?

Tim Wilson MP

Well, it's absolutely a question for the Prime Minister and for Minister Rishworth. How can Minister Rishworth have Mr. Smith as a key adviser on her forums on industrial relations? How can the Prime Minister rely on, his vote on the national executive of the Australian Labor Party and feel comfortable about this? We understand from media sources that there is now pressure inside the Labor Party to have him removed from the national executive, because there is increasing concern about that. He is refusing to budge. But in the end, so long as Zach Smith sits on the national executive of the Australian Labor Party, the Prime Minister will be tainted by relying on his vote. So long as he sits on the National Construction Industry Forum advising Minister Rishworth, she will be tainted by that connection as well. I think I have to stand up and put pressure on him and tell him: that's it, and sack him.

Senator Maria Kovacic

And I think the other really interesting questions here are is why haven't, why hasn't Mr. Rishworth and why hasn't the Prime Minister come forward to explain why he remains on those bodies? Why does Mr. Smith remain on the NCIF and on the ALP national executive? And I guess the second question to that is why hasn't Mr. Smith resigned? Why doesn't he go - I actually don't want to cause any more damage to my union or to my party. Why has he dug his heels in and decided that the best thing for the Labor Party and the CFMEU is, despite all of these allegations, for him to remain on those bodies.

Journalist

The Greens have welcomed an audit into the Housing Australia Future Fund, and I suppose this all kind of points to this broader infrastructure issue, trying to build houses …[inaudible]…Would you perhaps be supportive of a broader housing inquiry that could look at this among other issues as a way of getting it across the line?

Tim Wilson MP

Of course, in terms of broader issues around housing, you’re probably best to ask Senator Andrew Bragg who’s responsible for housing for the Coalition. But of course, we're very happy to now see an inquiry into the Housing Australia Future Fund because it's clearly collapsing under its own weight and failing to deliver. It's a huge embarrassment for the federal minister. And there are so many systemic problems now with the failure of the government to ensure that the housing the nation needs is being built. Of course, one of which is the direct impact of the relationship of construction cost to the cost of building the first home. Data from Queensland shows that essentially the CFMEU tax of cartel kickbacks adds up to 30% of the cost of our first home, that first home buyers are paying to go towards corruption in the CFMEU. So these issues need to be dealt with individually as well as part of a bigger process, because we need to follow every channel, because the Coalition remains absolutely committed to making sure every Australian is on a pathway with hard work, savings and sacrifice to be able to own their own home.

Senator Maria Kovacic

And just one small thing to add to that is the New South Wales head of the CFMEU has made comments that have been published where he says they do want to get involved in the New South Wales residential construction sector because they are missing out on the jobs and the money that comes from it, and that's a real concern when we already have housing totally unaffordable. We have a generation of Australians who, no matter how hard they work, will likely never own their own home. And that is entirely unacceptable. And that link that you clearly articulate between the CFMEU and those costs are a massive problem.

Tim Wilson MP

We are going to have to leave it there because the Senator has to go to a division.

ENDS