Interview with Cathie Schnitzerling - ABC Radio Brisbane Mornings

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

CATHIE SCHNITZERLING, HOST:    A bombshell report has laid bare stunning allegations of a culture of violence, intimidation, misogyny and bullying within the Queensland branch of the CFMEU. The Federal Government placed the Construction and General Division of the union into administration last year, following allegations of links in Victoria to bikie gangs and crime syndicates. Queensland Deputy Premier and Minister for Industrial Relations, Jarrod Bleijie, spoke on the report this morning.

[CLIP: JARROD BLEIJIE, DEPUTY PREMIER OF QUEENSLAND]

CATHIE SCHNITZERLING:    Amanda Rishworth is the Federal Minister for Workplace Relations and joins me now. Hello, Minister.

AMANDA RISHWORTH, MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS:    Good morning. Great to be with you.

CATHIE SCHNITZERLING:    What's your response to this report on violence in the CFMEU in Queensland?

AMANDA RISHWORTH:    Well, firstly, I would say that what the administrator has uncovered through this report is reprehensible and horrific. The threats, the violence and misogyny has absolutely no place in Australian workplaces, so it is absolutely appalling to see this and to hear about this. I'd like to thank everyone that came forward to provide evidence. It must not have been easy. But what it also shows is that the action that our Federal Government took to put the CFMEU into administration was the right call, and we are now able to do the work of holding those to account that have engaged in this behaviour, and really cleaning up the union so it can get back to its core business of representing workers.

CATHIE SCHNITZERLING:    You've just heard some fairly strong words there from the Queensland Deputy Premier, Jarrod Bleijie, who in very colourful language said that the Queensland Labor Government drove the getaway car for the CFMEU for this type of behaviour. Is the Australian Labor Party too close to the CFMEU?

AMANDA RISHWORTH:    I need to be clear. It was the Federal Labor Government that took the strongest possible action to put the CFMEU into administration. And I appreciate the bipartisan support, quite frankly, around the country for the action that we took. Of course, that wasn’t easy action, but it was the right thing to do, because what the administrator has been able to do is uncover this horrific behaviour. And more importantly, has been able to take action to hold those to account, to remove them from the union, but also put everyone on notice that this is unacceptable and that it has no place in the union. So I would suggest that it was our Government that took that action. I appreciate the bipartisan support, quite frankly, that has been right across the country from political parties of different persuasions that supported that strongest possible action.

CATHIE SCHNITZERLING:    What action will your Government take now, following this report?

AMANDA RISHWORTH:    Well, the action we have taken is to put the union into administration. We are backing the administrator to do their job. Their job is incredibly important to remove people that have engaged in this type of behaviour, to promote culture change within the union, which they have embarked on, and to make sure that we have a union that is absolutely focused on representing workers, getting the best outcome, and that behaviour like we've seen around misogynistic, violent behaviour has absolutely no place. There is still further work being done, of course, more broadly about the industry, and I am really pleased that I've already chaired my first National Construction Industry Forum. That is a tripartite forum of the unions that are involved, the businesses that are involved and the Government, putting together a blueprint of how we make sure that our construction industry is the best it possibly can be. So it is a long-term vision and one that we'll be working towards, but the administrator in particular has our full support to get the job done, and that's what he has said he will do.

CATHIE SCHNITZERLING:    How long do you anticipate that the Construction and General Division or the CFMEU will be in administration for?

AMANDA RISHWORTH:    That is a matter for the administrator. We have committed to supporting the administrator until the job's done. He has been doing a remarkable job to deal with these challenges. This report is one of those examples. I'm very pleased that the High Court reinforced and made sure that they sent a clear message that our laws that we put in place to put the union into administration were legal, and that should give everyone the confidence for the administration to get on with their job. I'm not going to put a timeline on it. What I am going to say is we support the administration to get the job done.

CATHIE SCHNITZERLING:    Was there ever a chance that this union will be deregistered?

AMANDA RISHWORTH:    Deregistration would be a bad outcome for workers and a bad outcome for lawlessness in this country. The important part about administration compared to deregistration is this ensures that the administrator can fix the problems. Deregistration would just mean that any potential union or any potential activity would not have oversight by regulators and by organisations, so that is why we chose to take this pathway. Administration means you can clean it up, that it's subject to all the regulators and ensures that the behaviour is to the standard that we expect in the union movement.

CATHIE SCHNITZERLING:    How will you know that the change in culture that you're working to bring about is actually happening? What will be the signs that says it's working?

AMANDA RISHWORTH:    That's a really important question, and we will be taking advice from the administrator. The administrator, of course, is on the ground, but they are instituting, for example, across the union, spending funds on a new culture change program. Of course, they will continue to monitor the behaviour through the industry. But, as I said, this is a broader issue as well across industry. How do we change the culture in construction? And that's where the National Construction Industry Forum and the blueprint that we are hoping to finalise will have an important role as well.

CATHIE SCHNITZERLING:    Minister, thank you for your time this morning.

AMANDA RISHWORTH:    Thank you.