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.
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.”
Source Agencies