One Nation split boosts union clout

Tony Abbott says One Nation’s split on industrial relations demonstrates why voters should avoid minor parties.

Pauline Hanson arrives in London on the weekend.

Tony Abbott has said One Nation’s split on industrial relations demonstrated why voters should steer away from minor parties, as major parties were better able to act and deliver solutions.

“This is a very good argument to not vote for minor parties because in the end minor parties are much much better at articulating a grievance and making a complaint than they are at delivering solutions,” Mr Abbott told 2GB.

“The fact that One Nation can’t get its act together on company tax cuts, the fact they can’t get their act together on industrial relations is a good argument to vote for a major party.”

“If you want good government you’re only going to get it from a major party and in particular from the Liberal National politician.”

One Nation’s civil war has escalated amid damaging accusations that internal divisions within Pauline Hanson’s Senate team were central to the government’s failure to pass a new public interest test that could have blocked the merger of Australia’s two most militant unions.

The Australian reveals today stunning new allegations from NSW senator Brian Burston, who yesterday said his West Australian colleague, senator Peter Georgiou, was responsible for sinking plans to ensure greater oversight of the merger between the construction and maritime unions.

“Peter Georgiou was against the integrity bill, but Pauline and I were for it. She asked the government to pull the bill so we were not seen as being divided,” Senator Burston told The Australian. “The merger took place because of the opposition to the bill by Senator Peter Georgiou.”

Senator Georgiou confirmed that he “led” One Nation’s decision to block the public interest test — attacking it as a “1939 Nazi Gestapo” move — but denied he had gone against his leader or Senator Burston, saying “we all came to the same conclusion”.

But a government source yesterday said the public interest test had the support of Senator Hanson and Senator Burston, with Senator Georgiou the only holdout. The source — who was close to the negotiations — said the government was only one vote short of winning the crossbench numbers it needed to ensure the test was applied to the already ­approved merger between the Maritime Union of Australia and the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union. The source ­argued Senator Georgiou’s vote would have ­secured the numbers to pass the bill.

“It really was Georgiou on his own on that one,” the government source said. “Pauline and Brian were quite supportive of the bill. Certainly, we needed One Nation in its entirety.”

Business groups had warned the merger between the CFMEU and the Maritime Union of Australia — which took effect on March 27 — would ­create a “super-union” with combined ­assets of more than $300 million and with control over the economic supply chain from pit to port.

one nation graphic for the australian

The government had been in a desperate race against time to win backing for its amendment before the merger took effect after the ­industrial umpire ­approved it on March 6.

Workplace Minister Craig Laundy was leading negotiations with the Senate crossbench and was aiming to have the upper house pass the bill by March 22 — leaving him only one day on March 26 for the changes to be ­approved when the House of Representatives resumed sitting.

Senator Burston, who on Friday refused a written request from Senator Hanson to resign from the upper house after she said she had lost confidence in him, yesterday ­argued that Senator Georgiou had not faced any penalty for defying his party leader on the public ­interest test, yet he had been unfairly criticised by Senator Hanson for refusing to support her backflip on the government’s $35.6 billion corporate tax ­package. The NSW senator also said he wanted to sit down and have a “constructive dialogue” with Senator Hanson when she returned from her trip to Britain “with a view of patching up our differences and bringing back One ­Nation as a solid three Senate voting bloc”.

However, the new accusations have drawn Senator Georgiou into the party’s internal crisis, with the West Australian senator yesterday confirming that he had strongly ­opposed the public interest test applying to the CFMEU merger with the MUA.

“I raised my concerns with my colleagues about this bill,” he said. “I thought it wasn’t fair. I thought it was, to be honest with you, 1939 Nazi Gestapo tactics. And we had a good discussion on it. We all came to the same conclusion.

“The (Fair Work) commission had ruled in favour of the merger. So if the commission had ruled in favour … my thoughts on it were it was wrong for a government to try and bring in a bill to stop a merger for whatever reason.

“The commission is an independent body and if the government doesn’t like that decision then bad luck … If the government wanted to bring in new legislation to deal with mergers from here onwards, that’s a different issue. Lucky for me, I had the support of my colleagues and we didn’t vote for it.”

Senator Hanson, who could not be reached for comment ­yesterday, had previously ­expressed deep scepticism of the CFMEU-MUA merger.

“The two are like a pair of naughty kids who are constantly in trouble and if it were a classroom you wouldn’t sit two mis­behaved kids next to each other,” Senator Hanson told The Australian in March.

Following the government’s failure to push through the bill, John Howard urged the government to revive its plans to subject union mergers to a public interest test, expressing alarm at the “ultra-concentration of union power”.

Australian Industry Group chief Innes Willox also said that, if the government’s amendments were passed, it would have been a game-changer. “If the bill was amended to ­ensure that it applied to mergers that had not yet taken effect, and had been passed by the Senate at any time before the merger took effect on March 27, 2018, ­employer groups … would have sought a stay on the merger decision,” he said yesterday.

Senator Burston said an ­attempt to mediate the disagreement with Senator Georgiou sparked the deterioration in his ties with Senator Hanson.

“I did convene a meeting ­between myself, Pauline and Peter Georgiou in the members dining room,” he said. “Peter Georgiou and I were waiting on Pauline. She turned up with James Ashby.

“She asked the maitre d’ to tell us to go down to the members and guests area and I refused because the meeting was between three senators only. That’s when the tensions between Pauline and I started.”