The LNP has moved to restore rules that require unions to give 24 hours’ notice before entering a workplace.
Shadow Attorney General and Minister for Industrial Relations, Ian Walker, said in a clear reward to its union mates, the Palaszczuk Labor Government immediately scrapped 24-hour notice rules when it came to power.
“The LNP introduced these laws to prevent union bosses from bullying their way into work places as they pleased to fire up industrial disputes and harass Queensland workers,” Mr Walker said.
“We ended the blatant abuse of power by unions like the CFMEU who pretended to be investigating safety but instead were intent on vilifying and intimidating anyone who chose to speak out against them.
“Labor’s cave-in to the unions on this issue threatens jobs and investment and is holding Queensland back.
“Our laws allowed independent government inspectors to visit worksites to check on workplace health and safety issues before the union arrived.”
Mr Walker said the Royal Commission into Trade Union Corruption recommended the 24-hour right of entry notification process be re-instated and today’s Opposition motion seeks to make that happen.
“In his report, Justice Dyson Heydon said the ‘pervasive and unhealthy culture within the CFMEU’ saw them ‘deliberately evade’ or ‘crash through’ the 24 hour notice laws ‘as an irrelevance, whenever they stood in the way of achieving the objectives of particular officials’,” Mr Walker said.
“Justice Heydon also found that under this culture ‘the reputations of those who speak out about union wrongdoing become the subjects of baseless slurs and vilification’.
“I challenge Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to stand up for the Queensland workers she purports to represent instead of defending the practices of corrupt union bosses.
“The Palaszczuk Labor Government has to decide whether it’s the party of its members or the party of the unions.”