Federal Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt has intensified attacks against the Greens MP who addressed a CFMEU rally in Brisbane yesterday, saying he did it to boost his profile and the most dangerous place a person could possibly be is “between Max Chandler-Mather and a TV camera”.
Labor has accused the Greens of grandstanding to get support at the next election, after Chandler-Mather spoke to angry workers in Brisbane during nationwide protests against federal efforts to stamp out criminal behaviour in the CFMEU.
Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Murray Watt.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Watt told ABC Radio National this morning that he was “disturbed” by some of the imagery at the Brisbane rally, which included a placard depicting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as Adolf Hitler.
“I think it’s also very, very disturbing that we saw a Greens MP, Max Chandler-Mather, decide to share a stage with the construction union yesterday in Brisbane, despite those placards invoking Nazi references,” Watt said.
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“When you share a stage with a group, you make a choice, and you’re endorsing the culture and behaviour of that organisation. That’s exactly what Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather did yesterday. I mean, what must his voters think? The university students, the nurses, the teachers, the women who have increasingly been voting for Greens.
“We’ve now got a Greens MP, sharing a stage, endorsing a union that’s been racked by allegations of violence and misogyny and I think he needs to explain that, especially when he’s clearly just doing it for his own political advantage.
“The most dangerous place you can possibly be is between Max Chandler-Mather and a TV camera. It’s all about trying to get his profile up. It’s about seeking political advantage, and it doesn’t seem to matter what the cause is, and he’s prepared to do it, as I say, even if that involves endorsing an organisation by allegations [of] … misogyny and violence.”
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