Monday, 13 October 2025

E&OE

Laura Jayes:

I want to bring in now the Shadow Industrial Relations Minister Tim Wilson. Tim I'm going to talk to you about the CFMEU but I think it's prudent to get your response on this, because what Jacinta Allan is saying, she's like yes there's more work to do, but we've got more police, we've got the toughest laws in the country. Is it actually making a difference to youth crime though because it doesn't seem to be the lived experience?

Tim Wilson MP:

It isn't the lived experience in the Goldstein electorate. You know, pretty much everyday I have people coming and raising with me issues of youth crime and violent home invasions and people are sick of it. The problem is that, one, we're living with the legacy of the Government not taking this seriously for a very long period of time. They ignore that. And now they're trying to take it seriously and nobody takes them seriously. That's the problem. So there's serious work to be done. It's going to take a long time to get this genie back in the bottle, but it's one that the Government has allowed, the State Government has allowed to get out of the bottle and Victorians are paying the price.

Laura Jayes:

So what needs to change here? Is it the laws or is it the enforcement of it? 

Tim Wilson MP:

Well, it's about the enforcement. They've obviously done some things on laws, but there's enforcement. But this is the problem with what happens when you don't take these issues seriously from the start. The Albanese government didn't take antisemitism seriously. They let it go rife for two years, then all of a sudden they were shocked there were firebombings. The Victorian government, the Allan Government, didn't take youth crime seriously for a few years. They're shocked now that people are boasting about them just being able to get out on bail. You know, we've currently got the Home Affairs Minister saying, well, if somebody just basically says they're going to burn down the Federal Parliament, it's not going to make any difference. Sorry, this matters. Setting the tone matters. Strong condemnation and leadership matters. You can't just be bystanders when people are tearing down and tearing apart our social fabric.

Laura Jayes:

No, you can't. I've just got on another matter as well, a statement through here to the newsroom from Lidia Thorpe that might interest you. She says, "my rally remarks were clearly a figure of speech, a metaphor for the pain in our communities and the urgent need to end the genocide in Palestine and everywhere". I'm not sure what and everywhere means. "They were obviously not a literal threat. This mock outrage is ridiculous". She goes on, but that is the main message she wanted to get across in her statement. What do you think of that, Tim?

Tim Wilson MP:

Well then she should simply say, I withdraw them, apologise, I got this wrong. Instead, she's trying to rationalise them. And that's the problem. We need to... you know, people in positions of power and leadership need to show leadership. They need to set a tone about the type of community in the country we want to be because that's that tone and the temper that citizens take about what's permissible. And this is the problem now, and I know we're going to get to, about the CFMEU, where the government is basically engaging or participating in tolerating cover-ups now between organised crime figures and the CFMEU. This just can't go on.

Laura Jayes:

Do you think there's any repercussions for Lidia Thorpe here? I mean, it seems like from all the conversations I've had this morning that she's just going to get away with it. There might be a censure motion in the Senate and then it all moves on. Situation normal.

Tim Wilson MP:

We know full well that the Government always wants to keep the option of her vote in the Senate in their back pocket. So they're not actually going to do anything. Of course, she should be censured, but that's not the end of it.

Laura Jayes:

But the Government nor the Parliament has any power to kick her out, do they?

Tim Wilson MP:

Not in a constitutional framework, but this shows you what happens when you vote Green. You get people like Lidia Thorpe who make threats about doing things like burning down public buildings. Simple solution to this, don't vote Green!

Laura Jayes:

OK, thought you might say that. Let's move on to something that's firmly in your wheelhouse as well. You're calling on the Albanese Government to reveal what it knows, essentially, about conversations between the CFMEU Victoria boss, Zach Smith, and what conversations he's had with John Setka. How and why should the Albanese Government have this information?

Tim Wilson MP:

Well, the Albanese Government put the CFMEU into administration because there was explicit revelations of organised crime, bikie gangs and underworld criminal organisations having access to public projects through John Setka. The whole point of appointing the administrator by the Albanese Government was to stop this behaviour. What we now know is that the CFMEU has facilitated meetings with Mick Gatto, that wonderful figure in the Australian community, and now we know that the administrator, the person designed to clear this place up, is apparently green-lighting meetings back with John Setka.

So what does the Albanese Government know? What have they been prepared to question the administrator about his conduct, and do they still have confidence in the administrator when he is green-lighting exactly this type of behaviour? And I can't figure out how they could, but apparently they continue to do. In fact, what increasingly the administrator is looking like is... Because the Minister, Amanda Rishworth, keeps saying it's the strongest possible measure they could take. Increasingly, it's looking like the administrator is simply facilitating the ongoing operation of the CFMEU and dealing with the Labor Party's political problem, not actually cleaning up the CFMEU.

Laura Jayes:

Shouldn't you be asking questions of the administrator, not the government per se? 

Tim Wilson MP:

Oh, absolutely. And we're going to be writing to the administrator and issuing around 20 questions today about what he knew, when he knew it, what he's approved, why he's approved it. Because when you have officials, CFMEU officials under his watch, meeting with John Setka, with Mick Gatto, we want to know why he's, or if he's aware of these things, which he now is, why he has either approved them or he hasn't taken tough action. We also want to what the Fair Work Commission knows about these things because last week they said if this was to be happening, they would have grave concerns. Well, off to the graveyard for the Fair Work Commission because it's the reality of what's going on.

Laura Jayes:

Tim Wilson, good to talk to you. Thanks so much.

ENDS