Mr ADAMSON - 1996-08-21
The Northern Territory branch of the ALP has been one of the stronger supporters of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU). In light of the bloody riots in Canberra this week, what is the Chief Minister's opinion of the union's action and of the support that it receives from the Northern Territory branch of the Australian Labor Party?
Ms Martin: Did you write that?
Page 1520
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the member for Fannie Bay is flippant. She thinks it is a joke. I would have thought that any clear-thinking, decent Australian, watching television the other night, would have been absolutely appalled by the violence that they saw.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr STONE: Oh, it is `hear, hear' now.
Mr Stirling: We agree with you.
Mr STONE: The greatest argument for televising Question Time would be to expose members opposite for what they say out of one side of their mouth and how, when they realise that they have put their foot in it, they try to correct it.
Mrs Hickey: We must be learning from you.
Mr STONE: The interjections continue because they do not want to hear the answer.
If the Labor Party thinks that type of anarchy will be tolerated by the Australian public, it is sadly mistaken. The Labor Party in the Territory has stood consistently behind the CFMEU, which is another name for the BLF and another term for union thuggery. This is the very same organisation that has swept into the Territory, on the wave of the boom that is occurring here, to grab its slice of the cake.
Here is a really good indication of how these union thugs operate, and they are nothing short of thugs. This is an account, a great boasting in the WA Construction Worker, of how they managed to get a local construction manager here sacked. They managed to have him thrown out of his employment. There is a great little cartoon here. This is a union publication. The cartoon depicts the manager supposedly punching a union representative - that was the allegation - and then there is the big union fist. The caption reads: `A heavier hand'. That is the sort of unionism that the Labor Party wants to import into the Territory. I table that, Mr Speaker.
Mr Manzie: Shame!
Mr STONE: It is a shame. What kind of decent people would participate in this sort of demonstration, a demonstration that was described by Bill Kelty on television as `very successful'? He thought it was pretty good, as did certain Labor spokesmen. I would have thought that members opposite would have been the first on their feet to condemn this sort of activity. What sort of people go to a demonstration armed with wheel braces, pieces of four-by-four timber and acid? What sort of demonstrators delight in inflicting injuries of the kind we saw inflicted on those police? Consider the number of broken ribs sustained by the policewoman who was injured. There we have them, the CFMEU, the BLF in another guise, boasting about how successful it was.
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Page 1521
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STONE: Then, of course, the action became rather hot. What did they do? Anyone who listened to the interview with Mr Jim Fox, the CFMEU organiser in Darwin, on the 8DDD FM program by Fred McCue, would have heard him try to shift the blame on to the Aboriginal activists. There he was in Canberra, reporting to Territorians on the Fred McCue show about how successful it all was.
When we first warned Territorians about this union and its activities in the Territory, we were ridiculed by Territory Labor. It really is time for members opposite to step back and disassociate themselves from people like Fox, and those who have caused this mayhem in Canberra - those who have caused some $200 000-worth of damage, those who seem to think that trashing a small business in Parliament House, stealing watches and other material from shelves, is somehow a form of legitimate demonstration.
Mrs Hickey: It is disgraceful.
Mr STONE: The Leader of the Opposition says that it is disgraceful. She should be on her feet condemning this union. She should be saying that this union has no place in the ranks of Labor. She should be saying that the Labor Party disassociates itself from this union and that it will not support it at any stage in the future.
Page 1522
Ms Martin: Did you write that?
Page 1520
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the member for Fannie Bay is flippant. She thinks it is a joke. I would have thought that any clear-thinking, decent Australian, watching television the other night, would have been absolutely appalled by the violence that they saw.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr STONE: Oh, it is `hear, hear' now.
Mr Stirling: We agree with you.
Mr STONE: The greatest argument for televising Question Time would be to expose members opposite for what they say out of one side of their mouth and how, when they realise that they have put their foot in it, they try to correct it.
Mrs Hickey: We must be learning from you.
Mr STONE: The interjections continue because they do not want to hear the answer.
If the Labor Party thinks that type of anarchy will be tolerated by the Australian public, it is sadly mistaken. The Labor Party in the Territory has stood consistently behind the CFMEU, which is another name for the BLF and another term for union thuggery. This is the very same organisation that has swept into the Territory, on the wave of the boom that is occurring here, to grab its slice of the cake.
Here is a really good indication of how these union thugs operate, and they are nothing short of thugs. This is an account, a great boasting in the WA Construction Worker, of how they managed to get a local construction manager here sacked. They managed to have him thrown out of his employment. There is a great little cartoon here. This is a union publication. The cartoon depicts the manager supposedly punching a union representative - that was the allegation - and then there is the big union fist. The caption reads: `A heavier hand'. That is the sort of unionism that the Labor Party wants to import into the Territory. I table that, Mr Speaker.
Mr Manzie: Shame!
Mr STONE: It is a shame. What kind of decent people would participate in this sort of demonstration, a demonstration that was described by Bill Kelty on television as `very successful'? He thought it was pretty good, as did certain Labor spokesmen. I would have thought that members opposite would have been the first on their feet to condemn this sort of activity. What sort of people go to a demonstration armed with wheel braces, pieces of four-by-four timber and acid? What sort of demonstrators delight in inflicting injuries of the kind we saw inflicted on those police? Consider the number of broken ribs sustained by the policewoman who was injured. There we have them, the CFMEU, the BLF in another guise, boasting about how successful it was.
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Page 1521
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STONE: Then, of course, the action became rather hot. What did they do? Anyone who listened to the interview with Mr Jim Fox, the CFMEU organiser in Darwin, on the 8DDD FM program by Fred McCue, would have heard him try to shift the blame on to the Aboriginal activists. There he was in Canberra, reporting to Territorians on the Fred McCue show about how successful it all was.
When we first warned Territorians about this union and its activities in the Territory, we were ridiculed by Territory Labor. It really is time for members opposite to step back and disassociate themselves from people like Fox, and those who have caused this mayhem in Canberra - those who have caused some $200 000-worth of damage, those who seem to think that trashing a small business in Parliament House, stealing watches and other material from shelves, is somehow a form of legitimate demonstration.
Mrs Hickey: It is disgraceful.
Mr STONE: The Leader of the Opposition says that it is disgraceful. She should be on her feet condemning this union. She should be saying that this union has no place in the ranks of Labor. She should be saying that the Labor Party disassociates itself from this union and that it will not support it at any stage in the future.
Page 1522
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016