Senator CADELL (New South Wales—Nationals Whip in the Senate) (15:05): I move: That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today. What we saw today is just more cover-up. We got to the CFMEU at the end, but let's get to it here. This is not punishment of the perpetrator; this is silencing a witness. This is what these actions are. This is Minister Watt sitting there saying: 'You've been very, very naughty. Please don't dob on us. Please don't tell on all of us. Let's not have an investigation opened. Let's not have a royal commission. Let's not look at everything. Just please go away. Let's park these problems aside so that other names aren't brought out.' Every bribe that has been offered to the CFMEU is a bribe that has been given by a business, by a person. Who are those people? Are they the donors? Are they the industries? Who are the people that preselected these people over on the other side? How many CFMEU people are still part of committees within the Labor Party? This is what we're getting to today. This is not a punishment; this is a parting gift. This is what this is to the CFMEU because they are indelibly linked together. So all this talk about acting tough is misdirection. This is a whole line of little acts and dramas so that the Labor Party look like they're doing something. We know what really happened here. This is stuff that was allowed to go away. All the wishes of the CFMEU were granted. The Labor Party—and the Greens, in cahoots with them—do not want any further investigation. I note today the tattoo by John Setka, that 'God forgives, but the CFMEU doesn't'. Maybe you can go and get matching tattoos so you're all as one. This is where we're at. Government senators interjecting— Senator CADELL: This is how symbiotic this relationship is. I note that those shouting from the other side had preselectors from the CMFEU— Senator Watt: It is 'CFMEU'. Senator CADELL: I can't even spell! Here we go. But this is what it's down to—and the effect for mums and dads out there? It means that everything costs more. We heard about the blowouts. We heard about the 30 per cent increase in costs—36 per cent, I think it was—from an individual source. Everything under these agreements costs more. So, when we look at the cost of living, when we're looking at the cost of housing, when we're looking at everything you pay, it is because of dodgy deals that we never see. It's not just the CFMEU we want looked at; we want to look at the people who pay these bribes, that benefit from these bribes, because it is one, big, parasitic problem. I'm not just leaving it there, because there are very good unions, very good people, who look after their members, and the CFMEU is just as bad an image for the unions that do look after their members as it is for all sorts. When we hear about bikie crime gangs involved in it—we hear all these things—we don't know what's true. We obviously assume a lot—there are some great things that have come out—but an inquiry is what's needed to look at these things: the cost to the Australian public, the cost of living, the crimes that are being committed. I, personally—I will say this here—have seen video of an assault of a building supervisor on a Newcastle building site by a union representative. Senator Bilyk: Did you report it to the police? Senator CADELL: When I asked to get a copy so I could report it, I was asked 'please' not to, because, with the threats that came, what would happen to that site, what would happen to that building and what would happen to that developer if it were raised were far more problematic to the developer than the actual incident. This is what has happened. These are the standover tactics that have happened. I've seen this with my own eyes, but we pretend it doesn't happen, because of the fear. If this is happening, where there is a video of this happening and they continue to get away with it, it is because of the fear that's in the industry. There was a link today to the cost of living, which is real. When we go out there, we've got an economy that has survived two years of COVID but can't survive two years of Labor, because of these deals. We've got people barely holding on. They've used their COVID savings, and they've saved to a point. We're hearing it in all our inquiries—the credit helplines and all of the things that are happening because they can't go any longer. They're using Afterpay to buy gift cards to buy groceries, because there is no care about the money that is spent under this government. It is the money they spend on these things and the free range they give to people like the CFMEU to raise costs that are driving these people to the edge. It has to stop, and the first thing that needs to stop is clarity. We need an examination into the CFMEU to see what has happened—a real thing with teeth, a royal commission—and to see what they have done, who has benefited, who has abetted them and the ways to stop them.