Senator BROCKMAN (Western Australia) (16:51): Isn't it telling that in this debate from those opposite there has hardly been a mention of the word 'union'? For those listening along at home, you know why just as well as I do that the link between the union movement and the Labor Party is well-known, well-ventilated and it is what the Labor Party never want to say when it comes to their defence of the superannuation system—that the link between the union movement and the superannuation system is corrosive. It has at the very least the whiff of corruption about it—and I will use that term—and Senator Kovacic has very clearly enunciated why. Let me just paint you a picture of a reverse scenario. Let's just say there was the chairman of a company who just happened to be the president of the Liberal Party of Australia and that company was doing big deals with a Liberal government. Senator Kovacic, do you think those opposite might be slightly concerned by that sort of an arrangement? The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Marielle Smith ): Through the chair, please. Senator BROCKMAN: I suspect they probably would. And what have we got here? As Senator Kovacic very clearly outlined, we have the current president of the Labor Party, the former Treasurer of Australia—a failed Treasurer but we will put that to one side—the chairman of an industry super fund who can communicate directly with the Treasurer about a government policy and then commit that super fund to investing in that government policy. Senator Ayres interjecting— Senator BROCKMAN: That is more than a whiff of corruption, Senator Ayres. That is an absolute disgrace. If the situation was reversed, Senator Ayres— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order! Order! Through the chair, please. Senator BROCKMAN: you would be the first one jumping up and accusing people of corruption. You would be the first one jumping up. Senator Ayres interjecting— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senators, I have called order a number of times, thank you. Senator BROCKMAN: A chairman of an industry super fund communicating directly with the Treasurer about a government policy, and what did the CEO of that fund have to say? The CEO of that fund said, 'Mr Swan made announcements on housing funding without the CEO's knowledge.' My goodness me. This has more than a whiff of corruption about it. The President of the Labor Party, communicating directly with the Treasurer, commits an industry super fund that should only be responsible for the money of its members to supporting a government's policy without telling the CEO. I mean, this is absolutely unbelievable. In fact, the CEO had no knowledge of the discussions between Mr Swan, the President of the Labor Party and Treasurer Chalmers regarding a $500 million commitment to this Labor Party policy. That is an utter disgrace, and it reveals the cancer at the heart of the industry super fund system—the fact that the industry super funds have these guaranteed board positions for union members. The union, in this case, is the CFMEU, a union that this Labor government, kicking and screaming, has put into administration. You couldn't write this as a script for a Hollywood movie—the president of the Labor Party has been talking directly to the Treasurer about investing $500 million of members' money in a Labor government policy. Surely Mr Swan had the brains to realise that that was an extraordinarily crass, dangerous and potentially corrupt thing to do—surely! It's absolutely unbelievable that this is the way the chairman of a super fund would behave, it's absolutely unbelievable that the Labor Party would defend this, and it's absolutely unbelievable that they cannot see this core of corruption at the heart of the industry super fund system. (Time expired) The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: The time for the discussion has expired.