The latest figures put beyond any that doubt who calls the shots of Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party.
Political donation data released by the Electoral Commission shows that in 2019-20, unions provided almost $5 million to Labor.
"At a time when Australians most need cooperation rather than partisan politics, not even a global pandemic has slowed down or caused any rethink at all to the massive amounts of money the union movement has funnelled to its mates in the Labor Party," Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations, Christian Porter, said.
"Surely that money would have been better spent with a focus on the real and immediate needs of workers during the last year.
"At a time when union members are most in need of practical assistance, the unions still seem to be focused on business as usual - transmitting of huge amounts of membership fees to Labor politicians. That there are better ways to spend money for workers benefit during a pandemic is evidenced by the fact that at the same time millions in membership fees goes direct to Labor and political campaigning, the ACTU continues to ask government for funding to support awareness campaigns for workers. How does that work?
"The CFMMEU is one of Labor's biggest source of funds, providing $568,000 to Labor.
"This is the union that has had fines of more than $19 million dollars by courts for breaking industrial laws.
"Whilst Anthony Albanese seeks to make a virtue of publicly rebuking the CFMMEU's John Setka, he's happy to keep taking the cash from a union that the Federal Court has labelled the most recidivist corporate offender in Australia's history and is still pledging to scrap the regulator which is keeping the militant union in check.
"Labor's hypocrisy on these issues is stark. It says one thing when publicly under pressure over the CFMMEU's bullying, intimidation and coercive tactics on building sites, but is still happy to accept the union's cash and do its bidding on IR policy.
"In the previous year, 2018-19, the CFMMEU put almost $2 million into Labor's coffers at the same time it was securing the vote of every Labor MP and Senator against a Bill designed to end the CFMMEU's stranglehold on the construction industry.
"In addition to the $5 million pumped into Labor coffers from unions, the union movement spent almost $2.5 million on its own campaigns against the Government in support of Labor. And just in the last 24 hours we have see even more union funds in support of Labor in a campaign using some of the most disgraceful and insensitive, violent imagery ever seen used in an Australian political campaign.
"It's time for Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party to stand up to the CFMMEU and reject the union's cash. That's would be a real show of leadership".
