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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 10 Hansard (5 September) . . Page.. 3223 ..

Mr Whitecross: You do not care.

MR DE DOMENICO: I will say it again. I do not care what the CFMEU thinks of this Government's decision. Imagine if I were to say to the millions of people in Australia, "The only reason why the Government will not do this is that the CFMEU disagrees". This is the same mob, Mr Whitecross, that went up to Parliament House three weeks ago and trashed the shop there. This is the same mob whose secretary here, the secretary of the Trades and Labour Council, on national television said, "Yes, I am responsible. I take the blame". Members of this union or people wearing caps that said "CFMEU" - they may have been caps that they found along the way - are the same mob that went up there and started beating people up. This is the mob that beat up policewomen, Mr Whitecross. This is what we are talking about.

Notwithstanding who they are, Mr Whitecross, this Government will make policy decisions. We will not, in advance, ask the CFMEU or any other union whether we can take on a policy. I know that you have to do that. Before you say anything in this place, it has to get the tick from the CFMEU. We know that. You have to live with that. We will continue to make decisions. If you do not like those decisions, Mr Whitecross, you have a lot of avenues through the standing orders of this Assembly to try to bring this Government down. I invite you to do that on this issue and say in your speech, "You are going to do it because the CFMEU disagrees". If you have the guts to do that, I will take my - - -

Mr Whitecross: I do not take advice from you, Mr De Domenico.

MR DE DOMENICO: Yes, you do, Mr Whitecross. You know exactly - - -

Mr Whitecross: I do not take advice from you.

MR DE DOMENICO: That is not what they say.

Mr Whitecross: I do not take advice from you.

MR DE DOMENICO: You take advice from the CFMEU, though. Come on, deny that.

Mr Whitecross: Mr De Domenico, I do not take advice from you.

MR DE DOMENICO: Do you take advice from the CFMEU?

Mr Whitecross: I take advice from my staff and other members of the Labor Party.

MR DE DOMENICO: Dead silence. The Australian Industrial Relations Commission heard the views of the trade union movement on this matter yesterday and has issued a series of recommendations, which Mr Whitecross read out, supportive of the position adopted by the Government. The Government wrote to the trade unions on 29 August

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