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Speaker 1: You're listening to a Muma Mea podcast. Mumma Mea acknowledges

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Speaker 1: the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast

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Speaker 1: is recorded on.

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Speaker 2: Hi.

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Speaker 1: I'm Claire Murphy. This is Mumma MIA's daily news podcast,

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Speaker 1: The Quikie. This week, the Senate pass new laws that

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Speaker 1: will give the Workplace Relations Minister the power to point

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Speaker 1: and administrator for the embattled union, the CFMEU. Today, we're

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Speaker 1: going to delve into the alleged criminal conduct of one

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Speaker 1: of the country's most powerful unions, how their money has

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Speaker 1: shaped our government, and why that directly impacts you. But

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Speaker 1: before we do that, here's the Letters from the Quikie

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Speaker 1: Newsroom with Grace Roofray for Friday, August twenty three.

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Speaker 3: I Romanian court has ordered internet personality Andrew Tate to

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Speaker 3: be placed under house arrest. His representatives have said he

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Speaker 3: was among six people taken into custody in an investigation

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Speaker 3: into human trafficking and sexual exploitation. The former professional kickboxer

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Speaker 3: and his brother Tristan were detained on Wednesday for an

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Speaker 3: initial twenty four hours after Romania's Anti organized crime prosecuting

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Speaker 3: unit conducted for home searches. The unit asked the court

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Speaker 3: to arrest the Tate brothers for thirty days, but the

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Speaker 3: judge decided to place Andrew Tate under house arrest. Tate

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Speaker 3: was already indicted in mid twenty twenty three, along with

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Speaker 3: his brother and two Romanian female suspects for human trafficking, rape,

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Speaker 3: and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, allegations

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Speaker 3: that they deny. Before their latest attention, the brothers had

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Speaker 3: been subject to a travel ban under which they were

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Speaker 3: free to travel within Romania but not leave the country.

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Speaker 3: Senator Linda Reynolds has filed a new lawsuit against Britney

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Speaker 3: Higgins and the company managing the trust fund protecting higgins

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Speaker 3: multimillion dollar payout. Higgins received two point four million dollars

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Speaker 3: in compensation in December twenty twenty one for hurt, distress,

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Speaker 3: lost earnings, medical expenses, and legal fees following her alleged

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Speaker 3: rape in Parliament. House claims the trust, overseen by power blazers,

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Speaker 3: was created to delay or avoid paying creditors, of which

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Speaker 3: she is one. She is seeking to void the trust

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Speaker 3: and have the funds believed to be a significant portion

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Speaker 3: of the payout returned to Higgins control ahead of the

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Speaker 3: conclusion of the defamation trial. A landmark gender identity case

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Speaker 3: will determine who can legally claim to be a woman

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Speaker 3: after a transgender user, Roxanne Tickle, was barred from the

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Speaker 3: female only app Giggle for Girls. Tickle is suing the

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Speaker 3: app and its founder, Salgrover for two hundred thousand dollars

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Speaker 3: in damages, alleging discrimination based on gender identity. Despite having

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Speaker 3: a birth certificate listing her as female and undergoing gender

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Speaker 3: affirming surgery, Tickle was blocked from the app in September

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Speaker 3: twenty twenty one. As well as gender affirming surgery and hormones,

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Speaker 3: Miss Tickle also identifies as a woman with her family, friends,

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Speaker 3: and at work, uses women's chage rooms and shops in

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Speaker 3: women's clothing departments, saying, up until this instance, everyone has

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Speaker 3: treated me as a woman. The Giggle Apps barrister argued

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Speaker 3: that it was lawful to exclude Tickle under the Sex

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Speaker 3: Discrimination Act. This is the first federal case alleging gender

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Speaker 3: identity discrimination and a ruling is expected on Friday. A

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Speaker 3: Queensland powerball player has won one hundred million dollars, making

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Speaker 3: them one of Australia's biggest lottery winners, but they have

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Speaker 3: yet to claim the prize. The lot is urging Brisbane

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Speaker 3: residents and visitors to check their tickets as the winning

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Speaker 3: unregistered ticket was bought on Brisbane's North Side. A Lot

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Speaker 3: spokeswoman said someone has become an overnight millionaire, but possibly

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Speaker 3: doesn't know it yet. We can't wait for them to

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Speaker 3: discover the winning news. The winner is now the third

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Speaker 3: biggest lottery winner in Australian history. The Lot expected up

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Speaker 3: to half a million of the Australian adult population to

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Speaker 3: enter the draw for Powerbowl's biggest win of twenty twenty four.

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Speaker 1: Thanks Grace, that's the latest from around the world. Next,

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Speaker 1: we explain what the heck is going on with the CFMEU.

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Speaker 1: The Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union, better known as

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Speaker 1: the CFMEU, is the largest union in Australia. They have

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Speaker 1: approximately one hundred and forty four thousand members, which is

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Speaker 1: one percent of the entire Australian workforce, and they have

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Speaker 1: a lot of money. Combined assets are said to be

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Speaker 1: worth somewhere around three hundred and ten million dollars and

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Speaker 1: annual revenue is set at near one hundred and forty

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Speaker 1: six million. The union is split into four divisions, each

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Speaker 1: working largely independently from each other. The Construction Division of

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Speaker 1: the union was formed in the early nineteen nineties after

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Speaker 1: calls for the various unions under the Building banner to

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Speaker 1: unit as one. The CFMEU is a powerful player in

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Speaker 1: the Australian Labor Party, aligned with the Labor Left faction,

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Speaker 1: donating millions of dollars over the years. The union helps

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Speaker 1: secure pay rises for workers and was seen as a

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Speaker 1: strong and positive force for workers in the industry. But

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Speaker 1: in July this year year, John Setke, the controversial secretary

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Speaker 1: of the Victorian Tasmanian arm of the Construction Division, a

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Speaker 1: tough and fearless unionist, suddenly resigned. Just a day later.

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Speaker 1: A joint Sydney Morning Herald, the Age sixty Minutes and

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Speaker 1: Australian Financial Review investigation revealed.

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Speaker 4: Why the CFMU is being accused of handing lucrative, taxpayer

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Speaker 4: funded construction jobs to members of outlaw motorcycle gangs. Reports

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Speaker 4: the union has been infiltrated by organized crime has prompted

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Speaker 4: the shock resignation of its controversial leader, John Setke, months

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Speaker 4: earlier than planned.

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Speaker 1: The investigation uncovered allegations of corruption, bullying, intimidation and the

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Speaker 1: infiltration of the ranks of union officials by characters we

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Speaker 1: learned about from Underbelly, from the notorious Mic Gaddo to

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Speaker 1: biking club members and associates.

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Speaker 4: One of the CFMAU boys said, Sammy the Turk is

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Speaker 4: taking over from Gada using the sought out issues with

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Speaker 4: bikis of the union.

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Speaker 2: You paim regularly eficiers Andy dramas for you to get

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Speaker 2: the email. Yeah.

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Speaker 5: I think that our front free is cash, but your

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Speaker 5: tay the voice, make sure they're okay, and that's it

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Speaker 5: the business and everybody needs.

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Speaker 1: There were accusations the union allegedly took bribes, that some

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Speaker 1: officials received kickbacks, and that anyone who tried to interfere

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Speaker 1: was either allegedly cut off from working on certain job sites,

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Speaker 1: sending businesses to the wall, or were threatened and harassed.

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Speaker 1: Nick mackenzie is an investigative journalist for The Age and

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Speaker 1: Sydney Morning Herald who helped put together the story for

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Speaker 1: sixty Minutes, Nick. Unions are supposed to be there to

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Speaker 1: support workers and ensure their rights and remuneration had taken

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Speaker 1: care of. But how did this union, in particular the

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Speaker 1: construction Arm of the CFM, you get so powerful.

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Speaker 5: Well, the story is all about power, and of course

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Speaker 5: unions are good things.

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Speaker 2: I'm in a union.

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Speaker 5: We want union reps and our union leaders to help

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Speaker 5: us get a pay rise, help us get better conditions.

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Speaker 5: But in the case of the CEA, for me you,

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Speaker 5: they've amassed a huge amount of power, both in the

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Speaker 5: political arenas, so how they interact with governments and especially

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Speaker 5: the ALP using that political power and industrial power, so

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Speaker 5: how they use their power on basically construction sites, work sites,

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Speaker 5: and how that disrupts, interrupts, affects major construction sites, some

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Speaker 5: of which we pay for as taxpayers, and also how

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Speaker 5: it affects the economy more generally. There's discussion about if

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Speaker 5: that misuse of power bleeds into say housing costs, apartment costs.

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Speaker 5: What we've revealed and uncovered was the c from you

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Speaker 5: absolutely has been misusing its power, both politically and industrially,

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Speaker 5: and the whole community is paying a cost for that.

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Speaker 1: Nick, can you give us a bit of a snapshot

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Speaker 1: of what your investigation uncovered, because it's quite a long

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Speaker 1: list of things. We're talking about, intimidation, physical violence, corruption.

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Speaker 1: Can you give us an idea of exactly what you

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Speaker 1: found in talking to people in and around the CFMU.

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Speaker 5: One of the most powerful stories we uncovered was involving

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Speaker 5: the death of a young man eighteen years years old.

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Speaker 5: His name was Ben Ash and he was an up

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Speaker 5: and coming construction industry worker. We interviewed his mum, and

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Speaker 5: his mom basically accused the cf MEU of bullying her son,

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Speaker 5: making him so stressed out he was involved in an

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Speaker 5: accidental overdose. And when we unpicked that story, it's not

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Speaker 5: just about a really tragic instance of a young man

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Speaker 5: losing his life. The company he had worked for was

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Speaker 5: an indigenous labor high and construction company. Now that company

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Speaker 5: had been targeted by the cf me You previously basically

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Speaker 5: stood over by CFMU officials because the company was not

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Speaker 5: a favored union company or the CFMU was pissed off

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Speaker 5: as well that it was a line with a rival union,

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Speaker 5: the Australian Workers Union. We uncovered video of CFMU officials

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Speaker 5: viciously violently standing over this company and threatening managers from

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Speaker 5: that company with violence, basically saying you won't work in

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Speaker 5: this town again. And the allegations from Ben's mum was

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Speaker 5: it was that bulling that intimidation that carried over and

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Speaker 5: what has Son later experienced, which may have impacted it

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Speaker 5: on the last little bit.

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Speaker 2: Of his life in a really negative way.

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Speaker 5: So you've got individual workers and small companies being stood

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Speaker 5: over by a union. Why is the union standing over

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Speaker 5: these companies? And this is where it's really really murky.

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Speaker 5: What we revealed was there are other companies they're getting

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Speaker 5: pushed by the union. Some of these other companies are

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Speaker 5: owned by bikys, they're owned by organized crime link figures,

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Speaker 5: They're owned by some really nasty underworld figures. Now, why

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Speaker 5: is the union pushing these companies? There's this unhealthy, unholdly

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Speaker 5: alliance between some in the union and some in the underworld,

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Speaker 5: and it's all about money. It's all about power, and

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Speaker 5: it's all about brute force, and I'm almost certain also

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Speaker 5: about kickbacks. We went under cover and this theory that

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Speaker 5: some companies are paying bribes to get union support and

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Speaker 5: they're using these fixes, these middlemen to do so. When

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Speaker 5: under cover, we had people pretending to be a traffic

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Speaker 5: management company, so the people you'll see in a work

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Speaker 5: site holding traffic signs stop and go. We went to

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Speaker 5: an Underworld linked fixer saying can you get us union backing,

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Speaker 5: he said on this undercover recording, I can. It's going

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Speaker 5: to cost you big bribes, one hundred and fifty thousand

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Speaker 5: cash up front, then you pay ongoing kickbacks to my

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Speaker 5: mates in the union, and that'll get you onto major

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Speaker 5: work sites.

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Speaker 2: So you can't get more corrupt than that.

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Speaker 1: What's really interesting is when you talk about biking involvement

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Speaker 1: in this union, you would presume from an outsider's perspective

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Speaker 1: that it would be one gang that would be affiliated,

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Speaker 1: because the gangs obviously go to war against each other.

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Speaker 1: But these are biki's affiliated with all different kinds of groups, right.

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Speaker 2: That's right.

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Speaker 5: But you know, the underworld, the equipmental world, the biking

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Speaker 5: world for the last really fifteen years, has been Yeah,

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Speaker 5: there's bikie wars, there's barkie bashings, there's tobacco shops and

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Speaker 5: being burnt all over the place, etc.

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Speaker 2: And barkies are involved in a bit of that.

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Speaker 5: But ultimately it's the power of the dollar, and where

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Speaker 5: people can make a buck, they will join forces, be

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Speaker 5: they in the rebels or the bandaidos, the common cerios,

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Speaker 5: and so what we discovered was there's a whole bunch

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Speaker 5: of union delegates who've held very senior positions in a

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Speaker 5: range of different biquie clubs, the Mongols, the Hell's Angels,

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Speaker 5: biquie clubs that have been at war. But when they

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Speaker 5: work as union delegates and work with the union, they're

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Speaker 5: all getting along and what because they're all making a

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Speaker 5: huge buck like some of the union delegates who are

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Speaker 5: very close to the associated with the Mongols.

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Speaker 2: Let me give you one example.

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Speaker 5: One guy was earning an estimated two hundred and fifty

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Speaker 5: one thousand dollars a year as a union delegate. We

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Speaker 5: got good intelligence he was never rocking up to work

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Speaker 5: and at the same time he was running his own

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Speaker 5: building company, which lo and behold, was getting pushed onto sites,

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Speaker 5: forced onto sites by the sea for you.

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Speaker 2: So it's another earning stream.

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Speaker 5: So when there's that sort of money flowing around, you

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Speaker 5: can imagine why people are pretty happy.

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Speaker 2: They put their guns or fists down and work together.

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Speaker 1: What's concerning is then, where some of this money that's

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Speaker 1: being generated is going. Because we know that, as you've mentioned,

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Speaker 1: the CFMU is closely tied with the Labor Party and

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Speaker 1: in fact has been donating to the Labor Party for

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Speaker 1: a long time. Do we have to be concerned that

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Speaker 1: that money being donated to the Australian Labor Party, who

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Speaker 1: are currently in government is influential in the wrong kind

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Speaker 1: of way.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, I mean, and Labour's worried as well.

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Speaker 5: It's put a stop to donations, it's suspended the c

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Speaker 5: for me, you know, it's forced in now an independent

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Speaker 5: administration process and there'll be corruption investigations are going on.

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Speaker 5: The Union has wanted to have significant political power and

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Speaker 5: it's used its money and its industrial power and its

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Speaker 5: political reach to effect sometimes who gets into state in

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Speaker 5: federal Parliament, the policies that are voted upon state and

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Speaker 5: National Labor Party conference is see I for me, you

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Speaker 5: has a bunch of votes in those rooms. So it's

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Speaker 5: actually shifting affecting the policy debate in this country. And

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Speaker 5: when you've got an entity that has some significant coruption problems,

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Speaker 5: that's the last thing you want. But beyond that, what

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Speaker 5: are so many people And I've been blown away by

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Speaker 5: so many people in the community, men, women, young, old

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Speaker 5: have really been outraged at what's been going on. And

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Speaker 5: I was surprised, but then I realized, you know what

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Speaker 5: the building community touches us all there's someone's got a brother,

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Speaker 5: a cousin and uncle, a dad, a sister, whatever, working

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Speaker 5: as a building worker, a traffic management person. They're working

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Speaker 5: in admin or in dust relations for a small building firm,

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Speaker 5: a big building firm. They might be in the union themselves,

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Speaker 5: must be stressed. Most people in this if new you

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Speaker 5: are honest, you know there's lots of good people that.

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Speaker 2: They might be looking for a part something. I'm looking

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Speaker 2: for an apartment to.

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Speaker 5: Buy in a big commercial apartment block in the city

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Speaker 5: so that the costs are getting passed on to consumers.

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Speaker 2: They're feeling that.

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Speaker 5: But this scandal touches us all in some way. And

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Speaker 5: the other thing is people don't like bullies. Australians don't

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Speaker 5: like bullies. And this is a story about bullying because

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Speaker 5: to see, if me is bullying the labor party, it's

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Speaker 5: bullying workers, it's building companies, it's bullying people in the

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Speaker 5: union itself. And I think lots of people out there

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Speaker 5: know a story about someone who works in a building site,

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Speaker 5: has been stood over by a union rap or works

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Speaker 5: in this sea for me you himself, and has tried

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Speaker 5: to do the right thing and being stood over or

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Speaker 5: pushed out and people are pissed off. So I think

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Speaker 5: there's a huge amount of relief that this is all

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Speaker 5: coming out, and there's a huge amount of relief that

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Speaker 5: there's a change occurring now.

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Speaker 1: John Seka a few months ago suddenly resigned when he

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Speaker 1: found out that your investigation was coming his way, and

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Speaker 1: there was this idea that his leaving would affect change.

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Speaker 1: But I would probably assume that those BIKY affiliated people

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Speaker 1: and even other Underworld's affiliated people like mic Gado who's

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Speaker 1: mates with John Sedka, that those people aren't going to

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Speaker 1: be willing to give up those cash flows anytime soon.

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Speaker 1: So do we see any may to change coming from

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Speaker 1: his leaving.

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Speaker 2: That's a really good point.

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Speaker 5: I mean, there is lots of money at stake, there's

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Speaker 5: lots of cronyism in connection. So before John Seker left,

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Speaker 5: he'd stacked the union with his mates, and stacked the

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Speaker 5: union delegates which work for building companies, with his mates

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Speaker 5: and his cronies. So he's got a very powerful network

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Speaker 5: out there. But the reform process that's being promised by

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Speaker 5: the Albanize government does look like it's significant, and I

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Speaker 5: think there will be some significant structural change. Another point

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Speaker 5: on second that I know lots of people listening will

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Speaker 5: be women. This is a bloke who was involved in

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Speaker 5: domestic violence behavior and found by court to have acted appallingly.

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Speaker 2: In connection to his ex partner.

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Speaker 5: The fact that a really powerful person can be found

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Speaker 5: to engage in domestic violence behavior and keep his post

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Speaker 5: and keep his political influence and keep his friendships with

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Speaker 5: people in the ALP. Some people in the ALP and

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Speaker 5: certainly the Union movement is appalling because it's normalizing bad

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Speaker 5: behavior and bad attitudes towards women. Because there's got to

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Speaker 5: be a cost, a massive cost, if you're involved in

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Speaker 5: domestic violus. Obviously, the good thing about the story is

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Speaker 5: you had some really brave women, led by the act

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Speaker 5: leader Salemic Manus, who stood up to set time and

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Speaker 5: time again and showed absolute bravery in doing so. And

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Speaker 5: so interestingly it was actually women standing up and doing

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Speaker 5: the right thing to challenge John Sector. Over the months

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Speaker 5: and years they've been leaders in their space. There's been

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Speaker 5: a lot of pretty pierce week men though, who've just

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Speaker 5: stayed silent because either they owe him o Sector or

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Speaker 5: they benefit from his patronage, although some, to be honest,

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Speaker 5: are also fearful, but people like salemc Manus.

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Speaker 2: What a champion to stand up time and time again.

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Speaker 2: And I think the reform process we will see she's

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Speaker 2: a driver in that because unless the union movement helps

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Speaker 2: to lead the reform process, it won't have credibility.

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Speaker 1: Just finally, the laws that have passed this week that

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Speaker 1: will allow the government to place to see if you

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Speaker 1: into administration, and that cannot be pushed back against by

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Speaker 1: the union itself, what do you think they'll actually find?

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Speaker 1: Will that actually weed out some of these bad apples?

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Speaker 5: The union is challenging the administration process. It's flagging a

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Speaker 5: legal challenge, but I think it will go through both

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Speaker 5: the coalition and Labor supported. It's going to lead to

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Speaker 5: dozens of union officials being sacked and people won't have

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Speaker 5: their jobs who are involved or suspected of corruption, or

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Speaker 5: suspected of running with bikis or suspected of being thugs

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Speaker 5: and standover merchants. So it's going to change. There will

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Speaker 5: be changed. The question is the really important question is

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Speaker 5: this and the unknown? Now the union movement isn't decline

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Speaker 5: in Australia, but it plays an absolutely vital role. Which

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Speaker 5: are the unionists who are going to step into the

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Speaker 5: fold that you know, the young unionists who and they've

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Speaker 5: got to be young to the future generations who will

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Speaker 5: then take the sea for me out of this scandal

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Speaker 5: into the future and push on with the really strong

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Speaker 5: It can be a strong and militant union. There's nothing

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Speaker 5: wrong with that as long as the union leaders are honest,

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Speaker 5: as long as they're coruption free. What's the next generation

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Speaker 5: of men and women, you know, people in their twenties

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Speaker 5: who want to step into the step into the breach

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Speaker 5: and take on this really important role to see if

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Speaker 5: me you hasn't our society.

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Speaker 1: So what now for the former boss of one of

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Speaker 1: the most powerful unions in the country. Well, just last

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Speaker 1: week John Setker was seen getting a tattoo in Melbourne

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Speaker 1: inked around his collar bones are the words God forgives

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Speaker 1: the cfmy you doesn't. Thanks for listening today, taking some

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Speaker 1: time to feed your mind. The quickie is produced by

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Speaker 1: me Claire Murphy and our senior producer Taylor Straano, with

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Speaker 1: production assistance from Telisa Pizazz. Audio production by Jacob Brown