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Tuesday, 8 May 2012
Page: 2802

Health Services Union

(Question No. 1570)

Senator Abetz: asked the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, upon notice, on 28 February 2012:

Does the Minister consider that Fair Work Australia's investigation into the Health Services Union has taken an unreasonable amount of time.

Senator Ludwig: The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

The General Manager of Fair Work Australia, an independent statutory office holder, is responsible for the conduct of the investigations into the Health Services Union.

I note however that at the recent Additional Estimates hearings the then Acting General Manager acknowledged “that on the face of it the inquiries and subsequent investigations have taken an unreasonably long time”. To that end, the Acting General Manager announced that KPMG will be undertaking an independent review into the conduct of the investigations and that the outcome of the KPMG review will be made public.

As the investigations are completely independent of the Government, the Government will consider the findings of the KPMG review before deciding whether to comment publicly on this matter.